Army Corp of Engineers found liable for Hurricane Katrina flooding

November 19, 11:21 AMNatural Disasters ExaminerTony Hake

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Flooding in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina resulted in billions of dollars of damage. A
judge now says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is
at fault in some areas for the failed levees and canals.
(AP Photo).  Remembering Katrina - See our slideshow
below.

In a move that could open the proverbial floodgates to more lawsuits, a US court has found the Army Corps of Engineers liable for flooding that occurred in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The ruling awarded $719,698 in damages to four residents and one business that were affected by the 2005 hurricane.

U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. found the Corps was responsible for “negligent operation and maintenance” of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a canal also known as MRGO. Stanwood said that, “Once the corps exercised its discretion to create a navigational channel, it was obligated to make sure that channel did not destroy the environment surrounding it thereby creating a hazard to life and property.”

• AP video news - Judge: Katrina Flooding Due to Corps Negligence
• Slideshow - Remembering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

The 156 page decision was strongly worded, taking to task the Corps of Engineers for “insouciance, myopia and shortsightedness” and saying it had demonstrated “gross negligence.” The judge wrote that the Corps was long aware of problems with the canal that could ultimately lead to extensive flooding. “By 1988 it knew that indeed all of the engineering blunders that it had made now put the Parish of St. Bernard at risk,” Duval said.

For over 40 years, the Corps was aware that the Reach II levee protecting Chalmette and the Lower Ninth Ward was going to be compromised by the continued deterioration of the MRGO ... The Corps had an opportunity to take a myriad of actions to alleviate this deterioration or rehabilitate this deterioration and failed to do so. Clearly, the expression 'talk is cheap' applies here.
  ~ U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood Duval Jr.

The ruling opens the possibility for more than 100,000 New Orleans area residents to receive damages from the federal government. The plaintiffs lived in the Lower 9th Ward and the St. Bernard Parish, both of which were scenes of some of the worst damage from Katrina.

In a statement, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said, "The judge's ruling today validates the feelings and beliefs that many citizens have held for four years. Although the ruling is liberating for thousands impacted by the devastation and tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, it is my hope that justice will prevail to help families make their lives whole again."

Hurricane Katrina was the most recent major hurricane to make landfall in the United States and was one of the most devastating on record. The storm was at one point a monstrous Category 5 storm but had weakened to a Category 3 by the time it made landfall on August 29, 2005.

The storm was one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States claiming more than 1,800 lives. Widespread flooding caused by the torrential rains and storm surge caused New Orleans’ levee system to fail. To date, it is the costliest hurricane in American history causing more than $81 billion in damage.