DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS: This is the actual levee that runs along the canal on the eastern side of the city. And when the hurricane hit, the water came through at such force, it was apparently too much. You can see the massive breach here, and when you look around the corner you can see what the water did to the Lower Ninth Ward. It compleetley destoryed neighborhoods.
JOE EDWARDS, JR., 9TH WARD RESIDENT: I heard something go BOOM!
MUIR: Joe Edwards rushed to get himself and as many neighbors as possible into his truck. They drove to this bridge, where they’ve been living ever since
EDWARDS: My house broke in half. My mother’s house just disintegrated. It was a brick house. All the houses down there floated down the street like somebody’s guiding ’em
MUIR: Was it solely the water that broke the levee, or was it the force of this barge that now sits where homes once did? Joe Edwards says neither. People are so bitter, so disenfranchised in this neighborhood, they actually think the city did it, blowing up the levee to save richer neighborhoods like the French Quarter.
MUIR: So you’re convinced . . .
EDWARDS: I know this happened!
MUIR: . . . they broke the levee on purpose?
EDWARDS: They blew it!
MUIR: New Orleans’ mayor says there’s no credence to this.
NEW ORLEANS MAYOR RAY NAGIN: That storm was so powerful and it pushed so much water, there’s no way anyone could have calculated what levee to dynamite to have the kind of impact to save the French Quarter.
MUIR: An LSU expert who looked at the video today says, while the barge may have caused it, it was most likely the sheer force of the water that brought the levee along the Lower Ninth Ward down.
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