| Levee leaks ignored before katrina hit Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20051118-114522-1611rhttp://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20051118-114522-1611r
Levee leak complaints fell through cracks 11/18/2005 12:07:00 PM -0500
NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Residents of a New Orleans subdivision had complained about leaks in the levees a year before Hurricane Katrina hit, but nothing was done, a report says.
The problem surfaced after residents noticed their yards, which swept to the 17th Street Canal levee, kept filling with water, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. After Katrina hit, the same levee collapsed, bringing the surging waters of Lake Pontchartrain into the city.
"We called the Sewerage & Water Board, and one of their guys tested the water and said it was coming from the canal," said a resident. "They sent repair crews out. They tore up sidewalks and driveways. Things got better, but it never got dry.
"So I keep wondering why no one ever came out to ask about it. No one from the Corps of Engineers. No one from the Levee Board. Sewerage & Water Board never came back."
A spokesman at the Corp said his New Orleans office has nothing on the problem. But investigators on forensic engineering teams investigating the failures say it reflects on the twisted bureaucracy, poor levee maintenance, missed opportunities and suspect engineering.
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