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(LA Times) — Reporting from Los Angeles and New Orleans – The harshly worded legal ruling that held the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers responsible for much of the flooding during Hurricane Katrina could have a far-reaching effect on national flood-control policies and on the federal government’s long-standing refusal to take responsibility for its errors.
U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. issued the stinging rebuke to the corps late Wednesday for its failure to properly manage a navigation channel and levees, which he ruled were directly responsible for much of the flooding that devastated New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish.
The corps' failure to shore up the channel doomed the channel to grow
to two to three times its design width" (CainBurdeau)
Although only a handful of homeowners shared in about $700,000 in damages, city officials said the principles established in the ruling would open the door to more than 100,000 claims by residents and businesses pending against the government in the areas covered by the ruling.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
