Civil engineering and infrastructure repair in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Infrastructure repairs taken place since 2008. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2021)

This article covers the levee system and infrastructure repairs in New Orleans, Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina
2005 Atlantic hurricane season
General
Timeline Meteorological history Tornado outbreak Preparations New Orleans preparedness
Impact
Economic effects Political effects Criticism of government response Social effects Effects by region Effects on Alabama Effects on Florida Effects on Mississippi Effects on New Orleans Levee failures Memorial Medical Center New Orleans Hornets New Orleans Saints Superdome Tulane University Infrastructure repairs Reconstruction
Relief
Disaster relief International response
Analysis
Global warming Media coverage
External links
Media related to Hurricane Katrina at Wikimedia Commons Katrina stories at Wikinews Works related to Katrina sources at Wikisource
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Though Hurricane Katrina did not deal the city of New Orleans a direct hit on August 29, 2005, the associated storm surge precipitated catastrophic failures of the levees and flood walls. The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("MR-GO") breached its levees in approximately 15 places. The major levee breaches in the city include the 17th Street Canal levee, the London Avenue Canal, and the wide, navigable Industrial Canal, which left approximately 80% of the city flooded.^[1]

While ownership, definition of requirements, operation and maintenance of the system belonged to the Orleans Levee Board, federal responsibility for New Orleans' flood protection design and construction belongs by federal mandate to the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Flooding from the breaches put the majority of the city under water for days, in many places for weeks. The Corps made emergency repairs to breaches, as pumps worked at draining the city. Hurricane Rita brushed the city nearly a month later, causing reflooding of some areas, most significantly from water flowing through incompletely repaired levee breaches.