WHO: The Army Corps Of Engineers
WHAT: The Army Corps Of Engineers has been sued 489,000 times over the damage from levees that broke during Hurricane Katrina. Of those 489,000 lawsuits, 247 of them are for at least 1 billion dollars, and one of them is for $3,014,170,389,176,410. ($3 quadrillion-ish.)
WHERE: Katrina’s victims ask for huge checks [Yahoo!]
THE QUOTE: “‘It’s important to the person who filed it, so we’re taking every single claim seriously,’ Corps spokeswoman Amanda Jones said.”
(Thanks, Andrew!)
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@canerican:
What does the construction of the levees have to do with which party was in power at the state and local levels when the storm hit? And it was a little over 2 years ago not four. Also check out this story about the federal response (or lack of it) to Hurricane Andrew in 1992 [www.sptimes.com] People in Florida are still “whining” about it 10 years later.
How about this quote from the same website “‘Even three or four years after the storm we still had people living in trailers behind their homes, living in sheds, living in half a home,’ Behnken said.”
Are they “whiners” too? [www.sptimes.com]
Jesus people, Katrina and Andrew happened to ALL OF US, not just the people in the actual path of the storm. The same thing could happen to you be it wild fires, mud slides, floods, tornados or terrorist attack. Speaking of terrorist attack there’s still a guy “whining” about 9/11, he’s running for President.
@Dibbler: So I guess we can say the same about everyone who died in the WTC? After all, it had been attacked before, they knew what they were getting into, right?
Thought not.
@Trevor:
You won’t get any flak from me on this.
Reimbursement not entitlement.
Hey guys! Hello from St. Bernard Parish, the adjacent parish to New Orleans. It’s quite different from New York City and I’m loving it down here!
I’ve had an opportunity to personally visit and tour the eastern parts of New Orleans (NOE and the Ninth Ward) and St. Bernard Parish, which suffered the most extensive damage from Hurricane Katrina and Rita with some professors from Tulane.
Here’s the thing. Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5 hurricane I believe. But, the hurricane did not hit the New Orleans directly. As a matter of fact, there seems to be a general consensus around here that the force was Category 1 or Category 2 tops.
It was quite expected that the water from the Industrial Canal, Lake Pontchatrain and the Missisippi would back up and flow over the levees. But, given the severity of the situation, it was not expected to give way. At some parts of the Lower Ninth, along with other neighborhoods, entire houses were swept away from the foundation as a result of the water coming in after the levees broke.
Since the Army Corps of Engineers engineered and built those levees, they do share some responsibility in this problem. The Federal government has been pouring money into NOLA and surrounding parishes, but many homeowners haven’t seen the money come into their hands.
In the houses that I’m helping to construct, the homeowners have been paying for reconstruction with their own pockets and is getting in heavy debt as a result. Cost of materials, labor, etc. is extremely high. So, if there are any surprises that there are huge gaps between houses, abandoned houses and people clamoring to sue the Army Corps of Engineers, there shouldn’t be any surprise.
I invite you all to come down here and eyewitness it for yourself. I did, I came over from New York. Don’t kid yourself and stick to the French Quarter. Come on out to the Ninth Ward or over onto St. Bernard Parish. Take a good look and talk to people. At the minimum, you’ll drop your stance on blaming the victims.