Levees' Engineering Questioned

Engineers are racing to bring New Orleans' levees back to the level they were at before Hurricane Katrina blew them apart.

CBS News Correspondent Trish Regan says it's a waterway construction project not equaled since the building of the Panama Canal, estimated to cost in excess of $3.5 billion dollars.

But scientists told Congress it may not have been Katrina's water that caused the failure.

"Many of the levee problems involved significant soil-related issues," says civil engineer Peter Nicholson.

The scientists think the force of Katrina's surge may have caused the dirt underneath the flood walls to give way, forcing the walls to collapse, Regan explains. Water poured through the breeches, destroying nearly everything in its path.

Joseph Bowles' home, and the land underneath it, moved 35 feet.

"I could understand if it flooded," says Bowles, "but to move everything around… It's ruined."

Engineer Gordon Boutwell says that's because the soil in the area is made mostly of peat, which he points out is "relatively soft, relatively light, getting down toward like Jello or toothpaste."

But the Army Corps of Engineers defends its design.

Asked by Regan if he thinks this could be a case of engineering gone awry, Col. Lewis Setliff of the Corps said, "I don't think so. I would harken back to the Army Corps of Engineers (as being) the world's experts on engineering these types of protection systems. Again, it just goes back to Katrina was very, very powerful."

Not only do scientists blame the engineering, Regan observes, they're also asking a more disturbing question: Was the construction simply shoddy?

"Some of the sections may not have been built as designed," says Raymond Seed of the University of California, Berkeley.

Tell that to Bowles, who says, "I've always believed that the American government and the American Army did everything to the utmost."

So, who's at fault, Regan asked.

"I don't know. I don't know. I'd like to know," Bowles responded.

But for Congress and the people of New Orleans, including Joseph Bowles, the answers remain months, maybe years away, Regan concludes.