Barriers stood up to surge

0 Comments | USA TODAY, September, 2008 | by Alan Levin and Peter Eisler

A three-year effort to repair and strengthen New Orleans' levees -- combined with some good luck -- allowed the Big Easy to escape serious flooding from Hurricane Gustav, according to the government and outside experts.

But the glancing blow from the Category 2 hurricane exposed the city's vulnerability, they say. Even as the storm weakened, its surge came within a foot of exceeding the walls on the city's Industrial Canal, one of the most vulnerable areas of the levee system.

"Absolutely, (luck) was a factor," said John Meador, deputy director of Project Hope, the Army Corps of Engineers' $15 billion levee upgrade project. "If there had been a direct hit, a different path or something, it could have been different."

Despite some anxiety as...