During the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 , New Orleans city and state leaders used dynamite to breach a levee at Caernarvon , thirteen miles ( 19 km ) below Canal Street , to save the city of New Orleans from flooding . At the time , it was thought by New Orleans residents that the dynamiting saved the city , but historians now believe that the dynamiting was unnecessary due to major upstream levee breaks that relieved pressure on the New Orleans levees . The levee breach caused flooding and widespread destruction in most of Eastern St. Bernard Parish and parts of Plaquemines Parish . Residents were never adequately compensated for their losses
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana