by Kevin Caruso
September 5, 2005
The break in the levee along the 17th Street Canal in New Orleans has been repaired (by 200 15,000-pound sandbags dropped by helicopters).
The levee breaks (there was more than one) allowed water from Lake Pontchartrain to flow into New Orleans, because about 70% of the city is below sea level. Some areas were flooded with water as deep as 20 feet.
But now, finally, the levee is repaired and the process of pumping out the flood water has begun; the process will probably take between 30 to 90 days to complete.