It turns out the situation with the levees in New Orleans was even worse than previously reported:

The documents indicated that the steel reinforcements in the levee, known as sheet piling, went to a depth of 17.5 feet below sea level. Sonar tests indicated the pilings went only to 10 feet below sea level, meaning the flood wall would have been much weaker than intended.

The LSU team is working on a report for the state that will say there were serious, fundamental design and construction flaws at both the 17th Street and London Avenue canals. Both broke during Hurricane Katrina, flooding much of the city.
Engineers confirm LSU levee study CNN.com Thursday, December 1, 2005; Posted: 11:23 a.m. EST (16:23 GMT)

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