[StBernard] Levee Design/barges

[Westley Annis]

Deborah Keller wrote (snipped for brevity)
No one has mentioned barges yet, and I'm surprised. Look at how much 
damage
barges did to levees on the river and in the canals and at the 
floodgates.
That happened in Betsy, too. Barges are huge, steel hulls that are 
shallow
and heavy and can breach any floodwall or levee protection regardless 
of how
high or how thick or how well maintained that flood protection is. Can 
you
protect your home from a runaway 18 wheeler traveling at any speed? I 
keep
waiting for someone to address barges. If MRGO was closed and the 
levees
were cat 5, what prevents even a single barge from ramming that flood
protection levee or floodwall or floodgate?

 
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That's what I found incredulous reading the nola article about the Michoud
levee.  If I recall correctly a barge or string of barges landed up on top
of that levee!!  That's what I thought was truly amazing.  Really, can't
wait to see what the Corps discovers about that design.  Along with those
employees who stayed for the pumps, the whole thing worked amazingly well.
 
Jim York