17 years post-Katrina, New Orleans-area protections complete

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Seventeen years after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, the Army Corps of Engineers has completed an extensive system of floodgates, strengthened levees and other protections. The 130-mile ring is designed to hold out storm surge of about 30 feet from New Orleans and suburbs in three parishes. Gov. John Bel Edwards and state coastal officials took a symbolic handover of the system Friday. Edwards described it as the largest civil works project in Corps history. Congress provided $14.5 billion for the system and related projects. The system includes two features that the Corps describes as the world’s largest — a pumping station and a 1.8-mile-long barrier that can be closed to block storm surges.