Tagged: Army Corps of Engineers

A federal appeals court has reversed itself and thrown out a judge's landmark ruling that the Army Corps of Engineers is liable for billions of dollars in damage that property owners blame on its maintenance of a New Orleans shipping channel.

The same three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that sided with plaintiffs earlier this year withdrew that decision Monday and ruled in the federal government's favor.

The panel's new opinion says the corps is completely insulated from liability by a provision of the Federal Tort Claims Act.

In the wake of major flooding during Hurricane Isaac, the St. John the Baptist Parish president is asking the Army Corps of Engineers to speed up plans for levees.

The Times-Picayune reports that Natalie Robottom has asked the corps to fast-track a decision on an alignment for a hurricane levee to protect the east banks of St. John and St. James parishes.

She recently went to Washington to make the parish's case.

An engineering expert has testified he believes excavation work performed by an Army Corps of Engineers contractor caused New Orleans' floodwalls to breach in two places during Hurricane Katrina.

Robert Bea, a retired University of California engineering professor, explained his position Monday during a trial of homeowners' claims against the corps and contractor Washington Group International Inc.

Bea is an expert witness for the plaintiffs.

The Army Corps of Engineers is back on trial, seven years after Hurricane Katrina's storm surge shredded New Orleans' flood protection system.

Starting Wednesday, a federal judge will hear testimony in a lawsuit by several homeowners who claim negligence by the corps and a contractor caused the failure of floodwalls protecting the Lower 9th Ward and neighboring St. Bernard Parish.

The corps says rain and storm surge overtopped floodwalls along the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal.

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract to improve drainage at the Trapp Canal on the west bank of Jefferson Parish.

Corps officials say the project, which is part of the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Damage Reduction Project, will reduce the risk of damage from a 1-in-10-years rainfall.

The $14.7 million contract to was awarded to Hamp's Construction LLC. Under the contract, 7,400 feet of the canal will be widened and other improvements made between Bayou Fatima and Bayou Barataria.

Existing levees will be raised in two northeast Louisiana parishes starting in the next few weeks.

The levees held during the Mississippi River flood of 2011, but have settled gradually since being built in 1973.

Reynold Minsky is president of the 5th Louisiana Levee District board. He tells The News-Star of Monroe the changes will bring all of East Carroll Parish and most of Concordia Parish to 500-year flood protection levels.