WWLTV.com | Corps resurrects the Levee Guard
Gibbons Burke
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Corps of Engineers hire inspectors to walk the
levees, check for deficiencies
11:07 AM CDT on Friday, April 28, 2006
Dave McNamara / WWL-TV News Reporter
As the Army Corps of Engineers rushes to finish
repairing all of the levees damaged by Hurricane
Katrina before the start of hurricane season on
June 1, there are also concerns about the ones
that did not fail.
Levee inspector Jens Nielsen walks along a levee
wall to report any potential problems.
After doing its own inspections, the Corps has
started using several private engineering firms to
check the stability of more than 300 miles of
hurricane levees. From St. Charles Parish to lower
Plaquemines Parish, the teams of hired engineers
said they were walking every foot of the hurricane
protection system.
"You notice the cracks from the drought in the
levee. We'll note all of that," said Jens Nielsen,
structural engineer with the AIMS Group of
Metairie.
The inspectors use GPS to find their exact
location, take pictures and log any deficiencies.
Even an area of bare soil where grass has died
gets reported.
"We look for any erosion around the structure. Any
cracks in the wall," Nielsen said.
For months, the Corps of Engineers has been fixing
breaches and sections of levees that were most
heavily damaged by Katrina. The stability of
levees that did not fail has now been scrutinized.
Corps officials said they hope to have all of the
inspections completed by May 19.
"We don't expect them to find anything significant
that we wouldn't be able to address real quickly
if necessary," said Jerry Colletti, Operations
Manager for Completed Works Operations with the
Army Corps of Engineers.
One of the obvious problems with some levees has
been elevation. Depending on how old a section of
the levee is, or how soft the ground is beneath
it, one can see areas where a levee has subsided.
This latest inspection will give the Corps a map
of levee heights, the actual elevations, of the
entire hurricane protection system.
"You've been hearing about all, what we're doing
in terms of years to come, and raising these
levees and such you need to have accurate
elevations," Colletti said.
If there are other weak links in the protection,
the Corps expects to find those areas before
another hurricane can cause any more failures.