http://blog.pulpculture.org/2005/10/14/hurricane-update/
Barry mentions the surge overtopping the New Orleans levees, particularly the industrial canal. Another levee thought to be overtopped was looked at in a new light after an engineer returned home to survey the damage to his house, located directly adjacent to the (I think) 17th Street Canal. A fort he had built behind the house for his child in the 1970s was sitting atop a mound of sediment closer to the back of the house. His expertise in engineering led him to conclude that the levee wasn't overtopped, but that the water was forced under the levee by pressure of high water levels, piling the sediment right under the fort like a turtle shell half-buried in the backyard. Given the nature of river sediments (potholes in New Orleans are never permanent, due to unstable soils), this seems plausible. This means that future levees will have to be reinforced much deeper below sea level.
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