Subsequent flooding Motion , caused Causation largely as a result of fatal Killing engineering flaws in the flood Catastrophe protection system known as levees around the city of New Orleans , precipitated Causation most of the loss Earnings_and_losses of lives .

over fifty breaches Damaging in surge protection levees surrounding Surrounding the city of new orleans , louisiana was the cause Causation of the majority of the death Death and destruction Destroying during katrina .

multiple investigations Scrutiny in the aftermath of the storm Catastrophe concluded Coming_to_believe that the u.s. army corps of engineers , which had designed Creating and built Building the region 's levees decades earlier , was responsible for the failure of the flood-control systems , though federal courts later ruled Legal_rulings that the corps could not be held financially liable because of sovereign immunity in the flood control Control act of 1928 .

although he lost Earnings_and_losses surprise due to the famously high tides of the bay of fundy , church quickly gained Getting control Control of UNK , and spent Expend_resource three days destroying Destroying the town and attempting to destroy Destroying the dikes and levees that protected its croplands .

In Louisiana , Rita 's storm surge inundated Motion low-lying communities along the entire coast , worsening effects caused Causation by Hurricane Katrina less than a month prior , such as topping the hurriedly-repaired Katrina-damaged levees at New Orleans .

In New Orleans , overflowing levees inundated Destroying numerous streets .

After months of heavy precipitation , a number of rivers overflowed Motion their banks for several weeks at a time and broke Destroying through levees at numerous locations .

The cyclone propelled Causation damaging storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain , breaching Damaging levees in New Orleans and inundating Destroying several neighborhoods , most notably the lower Ninth Ward .