storm exceeded design criteria, but the performance was less than the design intent." The final report was issued June 2009. The E-99 study is addressed again in a report released in August 2015 by J. David Rogers et al., who concluded that a misinterpretation of the 1986 study occurred apparently because the Corps had draped a tarpaulin over the gap that formed between the bases of the deflecting sheet piles and the soil in which they were embedded, so they did not see the gap. The tarpaulin was there for safety and to stop water that would seep through the interlocks. Failure to include the gap in interpretation of the test results introduced unconservatism in the final designs based on these tests. It allowed the use of shorter sheet piles, and reduced overall flood protection reliability. Replacement levees Following the levee failures during Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration ordered that the levee system be rebuilt by the US Army Corps of Engineers to protect the city from a 100-year storm. Gates and auxiliary pumps were added to the mouths of the three major drainage canals as well as the Inner Harbor Navigation Channel to prevent water from entering the heart of the city from Lake Pontchartrain. In addition, a surge barrier was built east of the city to prevent water from entering the city from the Gulf of Mexico. Ultimately, the system’s price tag rose to 14.5 billion dollars. The strength of Hurricane Ida on August 29, 2021––exactly 16 years later––forced a considerable amount of water towards New Orleans and the system performed as designed. The surge heights and direction of the surge was different than in Hurricane Katrina and it is noted that the mayor of New Orleans did not order a mandatory evacuation. Nonetheless, realizing that there needed to be more updates and changes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requested $3.2 billion from Congress in the fall 2021 to ensure that they could continue to provide 100-year level of hurricane protection through 2073. Conspiracy theories Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan among other public figures claimed the levees were dynamited to divert waters away from wealthy white areas. The conspiracy theory reached a United States House of Representatives committee investigating Katrina when a New Orleans community activist made the claim. According to the New Orleans Times Picayune this is an "urban myth". Reasons for belief in these