Despite repairs, levees may be unable to protect city

New Orleans: As Hurricane Gustav bore down on New Orleans on Sunday, top officials at the Army Corps of Engineers said that despite repairs and reinforcements, the 560-kilometre levee system still might not be able to protect the city fully.

The earth and concrete levees are stronger and higher than when Hurricane Katrina struck three years ago, but they still would be unable to resist a storm of the same size.

"It all depends on the strength of the storm, in terms of wind speed, water surge and how fast the hurricane tracks," Don Riley, deputy chief of the Corps, said in an interview.

"There are still vulnerabilities. There are gaps in the system," he says.

If Gustav hits the city with a large surge, the levees could be too low to prevent flooding, particularly in the 9th Ward, Gentilly and St Bernard Parish, all neighbourhoods that were partially or completely flooded three years ago.

After Katrina, the corps made emergency repairs to about 240 kilometres of damaged or destroyed levees and upgraded about 112 more kilometres of levees.

In addition, Congress has authorised a $15 billion (Dh55 billion) programme to upgrade the entire system by 2011. But that project is only 25 per cent complete. Federal officials said Gustav has the potential to inflict serious damage, and must be taken seriously.