Army Corps, public officials break ground on permanent canal closure project at 17th Street Canal ~Mark Schleifstein

“Of course, while it was borne by a natural disaster, we also need to remember so it never happens again that 70 percent of the catastrophic flooding was a man-made disaster, breaches due to design flaws and other flaws here at the 17th, and other outfall canals and some of the other protection systems,” Vitter said. “I don’t say that to dwell on the negative or to dwell on all of the miseries that folks have been through, but again to refocus us on the importance of today and all of our unified commitment that it never happen again.”