http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060602/ts_nm/weather_hurricanes_flood_dc_1


Incomplete system blamed for Katrina crisis

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - An incomplete system of defenses built in pieces over 40 years was responsible for the flooding that devastated New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina last year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on Thursday.

A few critical links failed in the system of earthen levees and concrete floodwalls designed to protect the city, the report said.

The region's flood protection system, built by the Corps over the past 40 years, was compromised by "incompleteness in the system" and inconsistent standards of construction and protection levels.

The eight-volume, 6,100-page report by the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force is one of the most extensive to date in the effort to find out what allowed storm damage to spiral out of control.