New Orleans' levees face a hard test as storm bears down
Even as Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the Mississippi River's levees held up when those in other parts of the city did not.
But as Tropical Storm Barry threatened New Orleans with torrential rains that will test the city's flood defenses this weekend, the height of the city's river levees was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' greatest concern, spokesman Ricky Boyett said Thursday.
The danger to New Orleans — bound by the Mississippi River on its south side, Lake Pontchartrain on its north side and tributaries leading into the nearby Gulf of Mexico on the east — is threefold: storm surges from the sea, rain from the sky and water from the rising river if the levees fail.
While the Corps wasn't expecting the swollen river to spill over into the city, the threat from Barry was real with a storm that was forecast to dump 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain on New Orleans through Sunday, with isolated areas getting 25 inches (64 centimeters).
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/new-orleans-levees-face-a-hard-test-as-storm-bears-down/ar-AAEcmsR?li=BBnb7Kz
