Quadrillion dollar lawsuit.

[Melmart1]

Another point to add is that many of these people were homeowners. Their homes were destroyed and they have neither the credit nor the capital to buy a new home wherever they may have settled.

Their tiny little shotgun houses may not be much to some, but it was all they had in the world and many were paid off. Now they are forced to pay rent on something they will never own because of incompetence. While I can't see give them millions/quadrillions, etc they do deserve some compensation.

Oh, and Katrina was only a 3 when it hit New Orleans. It was stronger when it hit Mississippi, then weakened before hitting Louisiana. So the argument that the levees weren't meant to hold such a strong storm is erroneous. They were meant to hold this type of storm and didn't.

[ChumpDumper]

The levees certainly weren't designed to fail in the manner they did, and the ACoE admits that their construction does not and did not meet the standards to which they were designed.

Katrina made it clear that floodwalls on the 17th Street Canal were in no shape to defend against a major hurricane. Ostensibly built to tolerate storm surge almost 14 feet above sea level, one section of floodwall and levee adjacent to Lakeview failed against water estimated at no more than 10 feet.

Now, a geotechnical analysis of the canal, perhaps the most exhaustive ever performed, indicates that the Lakeview breach was hardly the canal's only weak spot. In fact, almost none of the floodwall sections between Lake Pontchartrain and Pump Station No. 6 can handle the design capacity of 13.9 feet of water, according to the study.

The yearlong study, conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers primarily to determine the canal's "safe water level" for the 2007 hurricane season, divided the 4.8 miles of walls and levee into 36 sections to analyze just how much storm surge each can withstand.

It found that only two sections, those closest to Pump Station No. 6 and on the high ground of Metairie Ridge, can hold more than 13 feet of water. Many other sections of walls and levees can't be counted on to contain more than 7 feet of water.

http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/...17th_st_c.html

So several sections of the levee couldn't even handle half the water they were designed to. By its own admission, the federal government ed up big time.

[timvp]

I love the "well the dumbsh!ts shouldn't have lived in a floodplain below sea level, the ingrates needed to get a job and move before Katrina hit" take. When the big one strikes San Francisco and San Francisco becomes one with the Pacific Ocean, is there going to be a similar take?

"Well the dumbsh!ts shouldn't have lived on a fault line near the ocean, the ingrates needed to get a job and move before the big one hit" ... yeah, I doubt it.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I understand that, but I also think that if the government is going to tell people that it built levees that would protect them during certain types of storms, people rely on that representation, and then their homes are destroyed because the levees weren't built to the standard the government claimed, there's a degree of responsibility that falls to the government.

The parents of one of my clients were born and raised and lived all of their lives in NO. He said there was no mystery at all as to what would happen in New Orleans if a big storm hit. His parents' home was submerged when the levees broke.

It sucked and they were disappointed to say the least, but they knew what was going to happen when Katrina came along. They got the out of there.

[DontHatethePlayer]

OK - while I don't agree with some of the comments being made, I do have to ask where do we draw the line?? We are building in places we shouldn't be building because we can't live without the view or we have to be near the water. Look at the increase of alligator attacks because we are developing land in swamp areas and encroaching on their habitat. You get rid of their food source, they will find another. Look at these homes in California built on the side of a hill supported by stilts and we are shocked when they are taken out by a mudslide.

I realize that you can't really compare the two because the people in New Orleans probably thought that they were building in a "safe" area because of the claims of the government. But, after they HAVE seen what can happen, they still want to rebuild in those same areas??!! Come on. Where's the sense in that? Are we rebuilding because we have to prove that a hurricane isn't going take us down?? News flash...I don't need a glass ball for this one. Perhaps, we need to quit thinking we can take on Mother Nature and win - whether we are the government or anyone else!!

[BigBeezie]

3 quadrillion pays for a lot of 40oz's.

...and Swisher Sweets. , it will buy all the weed in Compton.

[ploto]

Black folk own too.

You misssed the point completely-- not TOTAL damages-- but the damages of ONE person suing for 3 quadrillion dollars-- or the 247 people each suing for a billion dollars. You really think they EACH had one billion dollars in property damage and loss of income? You really think ONE person lost 3 quadrillion dollars in Katrina?

[peewee's lovechild]

I'm waiting for the Texas Panhandle to sue GOD for all the ing tornados.

They better sue for Quadrizillions. GOD can afford it.