Canal May Have Worsened City's Flooding

Disputed Project Was a 'Funnel' for Surge, Some Say

By Michael Grunwald

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 14, 2005; Page A21

On May 19, Hassan Mashriqui addressed a roomful of emergency planners and warned of a "critical and fundamental flaw" in the coastal defenses for New Orleans. Mashriqui, a computer modeler at Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center, singled out the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a 40-year-old shipping canal aimed at the city's gut.

For years, local residents had decried the little-used canal as a "hurricane highway" that would deliver massive storm surges into their neighborhoods.