Who should pay for recovering from Katrina?
Many think the
US government should not go too far in subsidising private choices to
live below the height of the sea.
My own view is that the
federal government is responsible for the enormous damage sustained by
the New Orleans area. The Army Corps of Engineers was grossly
negligent in designing levees it was required to build and warranted
would protect New Orleans from a storm just like Katrina.[1] As a result of that
negligence, several hundred thousand people suffered very substantial
harm.[2]
(Disclosure: This is my 12th year in New Orleans. While our property
is not in the flood plain, it was flooded, though being raised, our
home was not.)
Unfortunately, the Federal government will not
compensate residents of New Orleans beyond a fraction of the costs
caused by the levee breaches.[3]
For decades, over half a million people[4]
have invested their lives and livelihoods in the New Orleans
area. They did so in no small part based on the assurance provided by
the levee system mandated by Congress and designed, built and overseen
by the Army Corps of Engineers.[5]
The levees of New Orleans were breached[6]
by waters the Congressional standard, and the Army Corps of Engineers’
own standards, should have contained. In the case of the 17th Street
and London Street canals, Katrina generated a storm surge well within
their design specifications.[7]
However, both these canals suffered catastrophic breaks, flooding the
bulk of the “crescent” of the Orleans Parish (the land between its
western boundary and the Industrial Canal)[8]
and a large swathe of neighboring Metairie (flood
map from the Times-Picayune, 9 December 2005). The breaches were
not caused by water over-topping the levees, but by egregious design
flaws.[9]
The foundation soils of the levees were not properly accounted for,[10]
a conclusion supported by a study from the Army Corps of Engineers.[11]
