NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With the fourth hurricane season since Katrina set to begin Monday, the Army Corps of Engineers says contractors are working almost around the clock to build better flood protection, and that the city’s system of pumps and floodgates is ready.
On Wednesday, the corps tested floodgates at drainage canals, turned on pumps and went through a series of hurricane drills.
Col. Alvin Lee, the corps’ district engineer in New Orleans, said about $2.5 billion worth of work is going on in the New Orleans region.
Key projects include improvements in the city’s eastern areas to stop storm surge from entering the Industrial Canal and finishing a system of levees and floodgates on the west bank of the Mississippi River.—-Contact The Daily Reveille news staff at [email protected]