"Shrinking Post-Katrina Levees Need $1B In Upgrades"

"Twenty years out from the New Orleans disaster, the city’s levee and flood wall system must be raised or the region could become ineligible for federal flood insurance." 

"NEW ORLEANS — Two things are important to understand about the $14.6 billion flood protection fortress built around metro New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The system of 350 miles of flood walls and levees in five parishes is slowly sinking, losing height while sea levels rise and potential storm surge threats increase.

And a small weakening of protection could hammer the New Orleans economy by making hundreds of thousands of property owners ineligible to buy federal flood insurance. "

Thomas Frank reports for E&E News August 29, 2025.