Floodwall pilings seven feet shorter than Army Corps of Engineers said
Tags: levees, floodwalls, army corps of engineers, engineering, universities, lake pontchartrainFrom this:
Sheet piling supporting the failed floodwall on the 17th Street Canal extends just 10 feet below sea level, 7 feet shorter than the Corps of Engineers has maintained, a team of investigators said Wednesday [11/9], strengthening earlier findings that faulty design and construction played a role in the canal breaches that flooded much of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
An LSU forensic engineering team, working in conjunction with the state attorney general's office, began examining the levee foundation with ground sonar Wednesday. The first reading was taken about 150 yards south of the break that allowed water from Lake Pontchartrain to inundate the city.
Independent engineers have questioned whether the pilings, even at the corps' stated depth, went down far enough to support the floodwalls and prevent storm surge from penetrating beneath the earthen levees and causing structural failure…
