Army Corps says closing gaps in New Orleans levee

VICKSBURG, Mississippi (Reuters) – The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers said on Monday it had completely closed one major gap
in the levees breached by Hurricane Katrina and was close to
repairing a second major breach.

“Progress has been sufficient to allow the contractors to
be in position to completely close the breach at 17th Street,
and the breach at the London Street Canal has been completely
closed,” the Corps said in a statement.

“The primary focus today is to assess the pumps within the
city and to work to get some of those started today,” said Greg
Breerwood, deputy district engineer for Project Management.

“We’ll want to start those pumps slowly to watch the
impacts on the system, trying to ensure no damage as the system
begins to sustain the increase in flow,” said Breerwood, who
was overseeing the flood fight from the New Orleans emergency
operations center in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Water has continued to flow slowly out of New Orleans over
the last several days, Breerwood said, but “access to several
of the sites have required the Corps and its contractors to
overcome major hurdles,” including security threats.

“We also made breaches in the St. Bernard and Plaquermines
parishes to assist in lowering water levels in those
neighborhoods,” Breerwood said.

He said the Corps was moving additional pumps into affected
areas to start draining the city and that several barges were
interfering with the effort to raise the bridges over the
Industrial Canal.

Navigation along the Mississippi River has also been opened
to vessels under 39-foot (12-meter) draft, he said.