The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "levees" ...
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American's Neglected Levees
Scripps reviewed the federal and state level system of levee oversight and found that no one at any level of government knows where all levees are, what they protect or what shape they are in. Thousands of communities are being forced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get levees certified under a national upgrade of flood hazard maps, but even FEMA admits the standards are outdated and don't accurately reflect the risks to people behind them.
Tags: FEMA; levee; flood; Army Corps of Engineers; infrastructure; National Levee Safety Committee; insurance
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The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is the topic in this book by noted historian Douglas Brinkley. He finds out how and why the evacuation was botched, relief efforts were delayed, and also "incidents of racism and brutality on the part of local police." He also examines how the Coast Guard and local citizens banded together to save people from the flood. New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin denied much of the charges in the book, but later acknowledged the truth of them publicly.
Tags: Hurricane Katrina; disaster; flood; racism; national guard; Mayor Ray Nagin; New Orleans; Gretna Bridge Incident; Danny Brumfield; levees; drowning; crisis
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Hurricane Katrina: How New Orleans' Levees Failed
The reporters investigated how the New Orleans levee system, built to protect the city from flooding, failed when Hurricane Katrina hit. The authors found that a large part of the problem with the levees boiled down to human error - mistakes that cost hundreds of lives.
Tags: New Orleans; Hurricane Katrina; levees; Army Corps of Engineers; levee failure; flooding; hurricanes
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Investigating Broken Levees
Levee experts commissioned to study the flooding of New Orleans testify that the Army Corps of Engineers contractors' work on the New Orleans levees was substandard. The experts quoted contacted the NewsHour and the New York Times exclusively to publicize the information
Tags: New Orleans; levee; Hurricane Katrina; Army Corps of Engineers; flooding
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Katrina Investigations
This series of investigations on the local and federal governments' response to Hurricane Katrina revealed numerous mistakes and inefficiencies at multiple levels. The investigation showed mismanagement of the levees, unused buses that could have been used for evacuation, botched supply shipments, corrupt contracting and port police's failure to rescue survivors.
Tags: Hurricane Katrina; New Orleans; hurricane; levee; FEMA; Mike Brown; police; disaster assistance.
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Flood Threat
The authors found that 30,000 homes in San Joaquin County, CA were built in areas prone to flooding. Furthermore, the levees protecting the homes are unstable and insufficient.
Tags: flooding; water damage; GIS; FEMA; mapping; Army Corp of Engineers
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Defenses Decayed
Sacramento Bee reporters look at the vulnerability of local levees which keep the city from being flooded. The report shows levees in vast disrepair, while flood protection funding is being cut back by state lawmakers. The levees are in desparate need of repair and need to be updated. Many are concerned that there will be a massive flood much like the one in 1997, which killed six people and forced the evacuation of 120,000.
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Washing Away: How south Louisiana is growing more vulnerable to a catastrophic hurricane
An investigation by the Times-Picayune revealed that "despite billions of dollars spent on levees to protect Louisiana's coastal communities from hurricanes, those communities are becoming more vulnerable to even moderately sized storms as the state's coastal wetlands disappear. (The Times-Picayune) found that the hurricane levees surrounding New Orleans and its suburbs are not the effective barriers to storm surge that the public believes, and even their designers admit that more protection is needed. Moderate-sized storms can result in higher surges that overtop levees because the vast swath of wetlands that once protected coastal communities is disappearing at an alarming rate."
Tags: Louisiana; hurricanes; wetlands; storms; levees; environment
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After the Deluge
This article examines the how "since the flood of '93, Chesterfield boosters have used millions in public money to raise a levee and turn the bottomlands into a boomtown."
Tags: public money; flood; Missouri; rivers; disasters
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Of Wetlands and Wal-Marts
One development at a time, Missouri has lost 87 percent of its wetlands. And that means more floods, more damage, more levees, more bucks. The story of one Supercenter and how progress comes at a price.