New Orleans braces for levee test

Will the levees hold? The US Army Corps of Engineers hopes so, as it pumps water into a canal that burst its banks during Hurricane Katrina to test whether it can now help fight floods.

During Katrina, water flowed into the London Avenue canal in New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain, instead of the other way around, causing the concrete walls on top of the canal's soil levees to slip and fail. Since then, gates have been built in the lake to prevent water escaping. Currently, water in the canal is 1.2 metres deep, but from 17 August, the Army Corps of Engineers will begin raising the water level in an isolated a 46-metre section of the canal up to 1.5 metres, while monitoring the impact on nearby walls and soil.