Sunday, 22 November 2009

Hurricane Katrina: It was not an act of God - Americas, World - The Independent

 image The US government could be facing a bill running to hundreds of billions of dollars after a federal judge ruled that failures by the US Army Corps of Engineers were responsible for the worst flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina.

The Corps – which is responsible for the design and upkeep of the levees surrounding New Orleans – had argued that Katrina was a once in a 100-year storm, an act of God, that had overwhelmed its hi-tech flood protection system. However, Judge Stanwood Duval Jr brought the debate back down to earth, blaming authorities for "negligence" in a strongly worded ruling that accused the Corps of "insouciance, myopia and short-sightedness".

Hurricane Katrina: It was not an act of God - Americas, World - The Independent