A federal court ruling handed down last week charged the Army Corps of Engineers with “gross negligence” that led to the catastrophic flooding in New Orleans in the wake of hurricane Katrina.
U.S. District Court Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. minced no words in issuing his ruling, saying that the corps failure to properly maintain the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO) shipping channel directly contributed to the breaching levees that swamped much of New Orleans in 2005, a disaster from which many residents have yet to recover.
In his ruling, Judge Duval said that Corps of Engineers “shoddy oversight” of the shipping channel located southeast of New Orleans caused much of the flooding of St. Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward, two areas hit hardest flooding after Katrina smashed into the gulf coast.

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