It's All About Design Flaws
This needed to be more widely seen. Letter to the editor in the Hartford Courant, via Suspect Device.
I take issue with the statement that "Katrina was proof that the levee system is unable to withstand the strongest hurricanes" [editorial, Jan. 11, "New Orleans Needs Leadership"].
The Army Corps of Engineers built the 17th Street canal to hold a column of 14 feet of water. According to its own report, mistakes in design caused the concrete structure to unzip from its foundation under a load of only 4 to 5 feet of water. The identical design at the London Avenue canal performed nearly identically in its failure.
This acknowledged engineering failure was responsible for flooding tens of thousands of homes, including mine.
It means the Army killed more U.S. citizens on American soil than at any time since 1865.
Had these levees not failed, political incompetence at the federal, state and local level wouldn't be an issue.
To those who would ask "Why would you build a city below sea level?" the answer is the same as why I would snack on peanuts in an aluminum tube five miles above the Earth: It was engineered to be safe. Had the Army Corps of Engineers built the last Boeing I flew in, the wings would have come off halfway down the runway. And the spin would be all about the race and class of the people aboard at the time of the crash.
Mike Moser
Orlando, Fla.
The writer is a former resident of the Lakeview section of New Orleans.
I take issue with the statement that "Katrina was proof that the levee system is unable to withstand the strongest hurricanes" [editorial, Jan. 11, "New Orleans Needs Leadership"].
The Army Corps of Engineers built the 17th Street canal to hold a column of 14 feet of water. According to its own report, mistakes in design caused the concrete structure to unzip from its foundation under a load of only 4 to 5 feet of water. The identical design at the London Avenue canal performed nearly identically in its failure.
This acknowledged engineering failure was responsible for flooding tens of thousands of homes, including mine.
It means the Army killed more U.S. citizens on American soil than at any time since 1865.
Had these levees not failed, political incompetence at the federal, state and local level wouldn't be an issue.
To those who would ask "Why would you build a city below sea level?" the answer is the same as why I would snack on peanuts in an aluminum tube five miles above the Earth: It was engineered to be safe. Had the Army Corps of Engineers built the last Boeing I flew in, the wings would have come off halfway down the runway. And the spin would be all about the race and class of the people aboard at the time of the crash.
Mike Moser
Orlando, Fla.
The writer is a former resident of the Lakeview section of New Orleans.