Today is 6 years since Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana/Mississippi coast, and Greater New Orleans was struck by the accompanying unnatural disaster of the greatest engineering failure in U.S. history.


( Read more... )

The Rachel Maddow Show was from New Orleans Friday. Lots of good local stuff, from the Who Dats to Po-boys from Parkway Bakery and the Sazerac cocktail.

However probably the highlight from the standpoint of reporting was the segment on the levees and floodcontrol, featuring Rachel with local writer John Barry.

Video on MSNBC

The words "levee break" and news footage of cities under water certainly has a dread familiarity for those of us greater New Orleans. Our hearts go out to our countrymen in the Mid-West.


( Read more... )

St. Bernard Parish new levees expansion joints filled with.... newspaper

Quote: “That should be criminal”

SHOULD BE?!?

The professional organization for engineers who build the nation's roads, dams and bridges has been accused by fellow engineers of covering up catastrophic design flaws while investigating national disasters.

Why the White House won't release its Katrina papers

Mayor Nagin seeks foreign aid

Gov. Blanco threatens to with hold approval of new offshore petrolem leases I hate to think how badly Americans would fare if disaster hit some part of the country with even less clout/resources/etc than here ( Read more... )

The flooding of New Orleans was caused by: Incompetent design by the Army Corps of Engineers.

From article in today's Times-Picayune:

"This is the largest civil engineering disaster in the history of the United States. Nothing has come close to the $300 billion in damages and half-million people out of their homes and the lives lost. Nothing this ( Read more... )

Saturday I helped with a volunteer clean-up along Bayou St. John ( Read more... )

( Read more... )