New Orleans levees pass Ida’s test while some suburbs flood

By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and JEFF AMY
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The levees, floodwalls and floodgates that protect New Orleans held up against Hurricane Ida’s fury, but costly upgrades to the city’s flood protection system couldn’t spare some neighboring communities from the rising water. Ida was the toughest test for New Orleans since the federal government spent billions of dollars to improve a system that catastrophically failed when Hurricane Katrina struck 16 years ago. The hurricane that made landfall Sunday in Louisiana led to widespread flooding outside the city’s system. Many residents of LaPlace, a western suburb, had to be rescued from rising floodwaters.