Failed floodwall was recently upgraded

No one expected that weak spot to be on a canal that, if anything, had received more attention and shoring up than many other spots in the region. It did not have broad berms, but it did have strong concrete walls.

Shea Penland, director of the Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of New Orleans, said that was particularly surprising because the break was 'along a section that was just upgraded.'"

Intricate Flood Protection Long a Focus of Dispute