This is breaking right now:

A federal judge in New Orleans has ruled the U.S. government owes damages to residents whose homes were swamped by Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters in 2005.

In a sometimes scathing critique of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval found “monumental negligence” in the operation and maintenance of a shipping channel called the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet.

He rejected the government’s argument that the Corps was immune from liability and had properly maintained the navigation channel, known locally as MRGO.

Flood victims had sued, arguing the widening of the channel and subsequent loss of protective wetlands turned MRGO into a speedway for Katrina’s storm surge. Judge Duval blamed government engineers for letting the shipping channel “run amok.”

Duval awarded damages of about $720,000 to four people and a business. The case has been closely watched by other Katrina victims seeking compensation from the government.

Here is the judgment:

Here is the opinion:

Transcript below the fold via WhiteHouse.gov.

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Because sometimes you just have to link to an AP story:

NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans should increase the strength of new levees being built to protect against catastrophic hurricanes, elevate more houses and abandon neighborhoods that rest below sea level, an independent research panel said Friday.

Levees under construction by the Army Corps of Engineers aren’t being built to a high-enough flood protection standard, said the report by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council.

At issue is the level of preparedness. The current $14 billion plan calls for levees that would stand up to a 100 year storm. The independent panel of experts suggests making the investment to prepare for a 500 year or 1000 year storm, as we do for areas susceptible to earthquakes. This is a common sense investment for the public good that will ultimately save lives and money.