Dredging may have contributed to flood

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Forensic engineers investigating the catastrophic flood that followed Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans say 1981 dredging may be to blame.

"Dredging is always a prime suspect in these failures," University of Missouri Professor J. David Rogers told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "And when you look at this project, the alarm bells go off."

Rogers is part of a forensic team from the National Science Foundation. The team said the dredging -- which was supposed to reduce or eliminate flooding during heavy rains by increasing the capacity of a pumping station -- may have cut through layers of clay on the canal bottom and gone too deep for pilings that prevented seepage.

During the dredging, more material was removed from the 17th Street Canal on the New Orleans side, making the canal lopsided and giving water access to the outside of the levee.

The dredging was a joint project of the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board, the Orleans Levee District and the East Jefferson Levee Board.