Katrina and it's Engineering Disasters

Link to documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fhc0oWxF1Q

     Hurricane Katrina was a major disaster that could have been lessened if engineering had been better. There were several engineering disasters, some of these are the levies breaking, the flooding of the pumps, and the I-10 Twin Span Bridge failure. The levies broke they were not built high enough or low enough. Whenever the rushing flood came over the levies it eroded the soil that was holding up the levy causing it to break. Since New Orleans is a swampy area the soil is very saturate. Once water came to the levies the water just flowed through the soil right under the levy. When this happened the water appeared on the other side of the levy and made the levy fall due to the amount of water in the soil. Also, New Orleans has very large water pumps in the city that could have lessened the flooding but they were flooded, which left nonoperational.
     After hurricane stopped people tried to help the people in New Orleans but it was very difficult to get to them. This was because of the collapse of the I-10 Twin Span Bridge. Rising water from the Storm Surge caused this. When the water rose it trapped air in between the bridge and the water which created a million pounds of pressure. on top of that the water was also pushing the side of the bridge with about three quarters of a million pounds of pressure. With these pressures combined pieces of the bridge were thrown around like toys. I think Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophe that could not have entirely been avoided but minimized.