US

Officials: Levees, pumps holding up as Isaac hits

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Officials say New Orleans' flood protections system is holding up so far as Hurricane Isaac storms through the area.

Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman Rachel Rodi says the corps expects to be on "high alert" for the next 12 to 24 hours, but they're confident it's going well so far. Rodi says a pumping station at the 17th Street canal in New Orleans — which was built at the site of a levee that breached during Hurricane Katrina — briefly went down early Wednesday, but operators were able to manually get it working again.

Isaac promises to test a New Orleans levee system bolstered by $14 billion in federal repairs and improvements after the catastrophic failures during right after Katrina hit in 2005.

Related Headlines

  • FLOODWATERS LEVEE

    Levees around New Orleans prove reliable

    Seven years ago, the Army Corps of Engineers was desperately trying to plug breaches in the city's broken and busted levee system. Since those catastrophic days, the Army ... 

  • Before and after: New Orleans since Katrina

    Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005, bringing death, destruction and despair. Entire neighborhoods were wiped out, about 80 percent of the city was ... 

  • Big bill for levee upkeep comes to New Orleans

    In the busy and under-staffed offices of New Orleans' flood-control leaders, there's an uneasy feeling about what lies ahead. By the time the next hurricane season starts in ... 

  • Lainy Serpas

    As Isaac pushes north, Gulf Coast slowly recovers

    As the remnants of Hurricane Isaac pushed their way up the Mississippi valley on Saturday, spinning off severe thunderstorms and at least four tornadoes, some on the Gulf ... 

Find your future job here

What

Where

Service