Levees.Org

Louisiana radio host Joe Cunningham with Townsquare Media has compiled this well-researched summary of the human failures that created the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe. Data from the LeveesOrg website is featured as well.

20 Years After Katrina, Louisiana Still Reckons With the Failures That Drowned a City While people drowned on live TV, FEMA turned away rescue efforts. The buses that could have saved 20,000 sat underwater. This is the real Katrina story.

Levees.org has posted its initial calendar of events for the 20th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the Levee Breaches. More events to come. Check back soon.

August 9, 2025 – Gala at the Cannery
3803 Toulouse Street, New Orleans. 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Celebrating the volunteers and devotees of Levees.org
Keynote Speaker: Lt Gen Russel Honore (ret)
Ample free parking. Two blocks from Carrollton Streetcar.
Tickets go on sale in July.

August 23, 2025 – Guided Levee Breach Tour
5000 Warrington Drive, New Orleans. 9:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Founder Sandy Rosenthal will guide visitors at the
Levee Exhibit Hall and the Flooded House Museum,
both at the London Avenue Canal breach, one of the
worst breaches during Hurricane Katrina.

August 27, 2025 – Book Signing Event
Octavia Book Store, 513 Octavia Street. 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Founder Sandy Rosenthal will read from and sign the special
anniversary edition of her book Words Whispered in Water.

Very happy to see the Anniversary Edition of my book is a #1 New Release on Amazon!

https://www.amazon.com/Words-Whispered-Water-Anniversary-Hurricane/dp/B0F2S6YHJL

I attended the Flood Authority East board meeting today to voice my concerns about hurricane preparedness in light of 4 empty board positions and 4 empty top-level director positions. And this is what I witnessed!

'Hit me': Tensions boil over at New Orleans flood protection agency over controversial changes Tensions at the New Orleans flood protection board erupted into shouting, accusations of corruption, and a near physical fight between board members. Hurricane season started June 1.

The New Orleans Lens has featured an OpEd by HJ Bosworth and me.

Maintaining independence in levee-board appointments | The Lens Some recent legislative changes seem to have been motivated by skewed perceptions about the pre-Katrina Orleans Levee Board that we’d like to correct, say the writers, from levees.org. After HurricaneKatrina, some people believed, without evidence, that the Orleans Levee Board was responsible for ...

Last week, founder Sandy Rosenthal spoke with a delegation from Europe, as part of a project on “Transparency and Accountability in Government.” The group was eight delegates from the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.

The presentation was organized through the Global New Orleans, a nonprofit organization that arranges professional appointments and cultural activities for over 500 international leaders sent to New Orleans annually by the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program.

One of about 90 councils nationwide, and the only council in Louisiana, Global New Orleans aims to promote cross-cultural relationships and mutual understanding.

The system worked as it should. The leadership of Levees.org mobilized its membership to contact the House Transportation Cmte and urge them to say NO to a bill that could put the reliability of our flood protection at risk. Thank you, all of you who sent your letters!

https://www.nola.com/news/environment/jeff-landry-flood-protection-bill-legislature-louisiana-new-orleans/article_a52e6b78-afc1-4c5a-905d-55ffd39e8988.html

Gov. Jeff Landry's effort to reshape New Orleans flood protection agency fizzles A prior version of the bill would have scrapped an independent committee that puts forward prospective board members. The new bill leaves it in place.

Founder Sandy Rosenthal is on her way to Baton Rouge to testify for safe levees. If you haven't yet, please click this LINK and urge the House Transportation Cmte to vote NO to HB633. Send by 9:30a today.

Blue ribbon committees should select Levee Board members | Rally Starter A blue-ribbon committee should decide who serves on the Flood Authority East in New Orleans, not politicians. This is necessary because the New Orleans District is the largest district of the Army Corps of Engineers in the nation. If the levee maintenance is not done exactly per the Army C...

The LA governor wants to select the New Orleans levee board members. Find out what this means from someone who served on the board for 8 years.

Levee board members have no sway over Army Corps design | The Lens The Army Corps controls the design and operational procedures of flood reduction, so it doesn’t matter whether the governor selects the levee board members or if a panel picks candidates – or even if we choose the first nine people coming out of church on Sunday.