Parker, Waichman, Alonso LLP

Home » Topics » Other Topics » Levee Failure

Levee Litigation Group Dedicated to Helping Hurricane Katrina Victims

Parker & Waichman, LLP is proud to be a part of the Levee Litigation Group, a team of leading plaintiffs lawyers that are seeking justice for thousands of victims of Hurrican Katrina. Levee Litigation Group is representing people who have been injured, lost property or lost employment as a direct result of flooding caused by levee and other barrier failures.

On June 1, 2006, the Army Corps of Engineers took responsibility for the flooding in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina. A 6,000 page-plus report on the tragedy, prepared by the 150-member Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force assembled and headed by the Corps, said the flooding was a result of failed levees which were built in a disjointed fashion using outdated methods. The report concluded that the levees were inconsistent in quality, materials and design and that the inconsistencies left gaps that were exploited by the storm. Engineers did not take into account the poor soil quality underneath New Orleans, the report said, and their failure to account for the sinking of land caused some sections to be as much as two feet lower than other parts. The report also blamed four breaches in canals that run through New Orleans on foundation failures that were not considered in the original design of these structures. These breaches caused two-thirds of the flooding in New Orleans.

This report followed a critical report by the Independent Levee Investigation Team which was made up of experts from the University of California at Berkeley. These investigators concluded that the devastation Katrina inflicted on New Orleans was caused by the failure of the system, calling it “unfinished” and “impotent.” The group said that floodwalls failed because they weren't built safely enough to begin with, and that some levees washed away, not because they were first overpowered by a storm surge, but because they were improperly built of sandy soils that the powerful storm surge ate through before overtopping occurred. The group was highly critical of the Army Corps of Engineers, calling them “dysfunctional” and “unreliable.” The team stated, " New Orleans flooded not so much because there was a hurricane, but because of human error, poor decisions and judgments, and failed policies.”

Levee Litigation Group Can Help You If:

Hurricane Katrina damaged 169 miles of the 350-mile hurricane system that protects New Orleans and was blamed for more than 1,570 deaths and $100-$200 billion in property damage in Louisiana alone. Levee Litigation Group is representing individuals who suffered physical and psychological injuries, death of family members, property damage and lost wages as a result of flood damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. For more information on Levee Litigation Group, please visit www.leveelaw.com or call 1-800-LAW-INFO (1-800-529-4636).