THE US government faces compensation claims worth billions of dollars from victims of Hurricane Katrina after a federal judge found that negligence on the part of the army’s corps of engineers was directly responsible for some of the most extreme flooding.
Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that the corps, which was responsible for maintaining the waterways and levees that protected New Orleans from flooding, had known of the threat to areas of the city but had failed to act in time.
“The corps’ lassitude and failure to fulfil its duties resulted in a catastrophic loss of human life and property in unprecedented proportions,” the judge wrote.
The 156-page ruling accused the corps of “insouciance, myopia and short-sightedness” and said it had “myriad” ways in which it could have acted to prevent disaster, but failed to do so.
The ruling was based on three test cases of families whose lives were devastated in the hurricane that battered New Orleans in August 2005. Between them, the three plaintiffs were awarded about $700,000 in damages.
The ruling opens the door to further claims from up to 100,000 victims with possible settlements running into billions of dollars.
“The people of the city of New Orleans are vindicated,” said lead lawyer Joseph Bruno yesterday. “No Katrina victim should be left behind – that is our objective.”
The court ruling related to two areas of the city that suffered some of the worst flooding and loss of life – the lower 9th ward and St Bernard Parish.
The judge looked specifically at the role in the disaster played by the Mississippi river-Gulf outlet, which was built in the 1960s as a shortcut for shipping between the city and the Gulf of Mexico.
The court heard evidence that the army corps had known in advance of Hurricane Katrina and that the waterway had been poorly maintained, which could prove fatal in the case of storm damage.
The channel had widened over the years and surrounding wetlands, which acted as a brake on storm surges, had been destroyed by the seeping of salt water.
The combination of these factors meant the outlet acted as a funnel, amplifying the incoming surge once Katrina came ashore.
The judgment puts the Obama administration in a potentially difficult position. It has stated its desire to be more proactive than the Bush administration in helping New Orleans rebuild itself, but it may not relish the prospect of big compensation claims when it is trying to contain government spending.
The justice department is expected to appeal. The army corps is declining to comment until the appeals have been heard. – (Guardian service)