SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS

The federal government is shielded by law from damage claims arising from the failure of flood levees constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers but some New Orleans plaintiffs say it was the 1960s construction of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet shipping channel, not levee failures, that caused their homes to flood, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

Despite warnings before and after it was built by the corps that such a thing could happen, the channel -- used as a bypass for shipping traffic to the Gulf of Mexico -- acted as a funnel for Katrina's 2005 storm surge, shooting water upchannel and flooding eastern sections of the city, the newspaper says.

"Since 1958, the Army Corps was on written notice that the (channel) posed a serious threat to human life and property in Greater New Orleans", the suit reads.

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled in May in New Orleans that the multibillion-dollar, class-action suit could proceed to trial.

 BREAKING STORIES

Insurance analysts eye coming storms

Shortened RNC first session adjourns

Hanna a Hurricane Now, New Depression Forms

Canadian military plane helps Gustav evac

Louisiana delegates worry about home

GOP: Convention will go on

Expert: How to curb hurricane anxiety

Report: RNC mulls convention delay

Oil Prices Climbing Amid Hurricane Watch

FEMA hurricane housing tab near $3 billion

Bad year for Britain's butterflies

Florida county issues water safety warning

Kennedy Space Center reopening delayed

Tropical Storm Fay may turn inland

Surfer who hit wall in critical condition

Cause of quiet 2007 hurricane season found

Fay forces closing of Kennedy Space Center

Haiti: Storm kills at least 50

Global warming: Fewer but stronger storms

Stranded dolphins returned to sea