WP: FEMA Pulls Out of Lower Ninth (Ward)

Tests confirm levee sheet pilings only driven about half as far as recommended

06:43 PM CST on Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Brett Martel / Associated Press

Government engineers performing sonar tests at the site of a major levee failure found exactly what independent investigators said they would -- that steel reinforcements barely went more than half as deep as they were supposed to, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official said Wednesday.

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Baumy said the Corps remains unable to explain the disparity between what their 1993 design documents show was supposed to be there and what they've actually found.

The documents indicated that the steel reinforcements in the levee, known as sheet piling, went down to a depth of 17.5 feet below sea level. Sonar tests indicated the pilings went only to 10 feet below sea level, meaning the flood wall would have been much weaker than advertised.

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Engineering studies prior to construction of the flood wall were performed by Eustis Engineering, Modjeski and Masters Inc. and the Corps. Members of van Heerden's team have expressed shock that all three could have missed what they characterized as fundamental flaws. Calls put in to Eustis and Modjeski and Masters were not returned Wednesday. However, van Heerden said the federal government bears ultimate responsibility.

"The federal government built the levees, the federal government supplied that security, the security system failed, as a consequence these 100,000 families have lost everything," van Heerden said. "In our opinion, the federal government needs to step up to the plate."

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