<P> At about 6: 30 am on August 29, 2005, a portion of the I - wall along the east side of the 17th Street Canal adjacent to the 6900 block of Bellaire Drive split open, sending torrents of water into New Orleans' Lakeview neighborhood . The water level in the Canal at the time of failure was about 5 feet lower than the top of the I - wall, well below the design water level . The breach released storm surge floodwaters that destroyed buildings, homes, and infrastructure, throughout all but the highest areas within the city . The initial breach expanded to a nearly 450 - foot wide gap . Thirty - one (31) victims were recovered from areas directly flooded by breach in 17th street canal levee . </P> <P> Two teams investigated the failure, the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) and the Independent Levee Investigation Team (ILIT). The studies confirmed that the canal floodwall failed at significantly lower water level than the top of the floodwall due to faulty design . In August 2007, the Corps announced the results of an engineering analysis applying more stringent post-Katrina design criteria which showed the maximum safe load on some of the surviving floodwalls is only 7 feet (2.1 m) of water, which is half the original 14 - foot (4.3 m) design intent . </P> <P> On 10 November 2005, an article in the Times - Picayune revealed that sonar soundings discovered that the steel sheet pilings of the levee floodwall were 2.1 m (7 ft) less deep than engineering specifications . Sample pilings pulled up were found to be of the length specified in the design (17 feet), but it was then revealed that this length was less than the actual depth of the canal, in retrospect an obvious engineering mistake . Current analysis concludes that the catastrophic breach was due to faulty design, rather than storm surge higher than what the canal was designed to withstand . According to an article published in the August 2015 issue of the official journal of the World Water Council, the Army Corps of Engineers misinterpreted the results of a Sheet Pile Load test (E-99 Study) conducted in the mid 1980s and concluded they needed to drive sheet pilings to depths of not more than 17 feet, rather than the necessary 31 to 46 feet . This move saved millions but greatly reduced overall engineering reliability . </P> <P> The corps constructed a permanent auxiliary pump station . During a hurricane event, the gate will be closed and its pump station will operate in tandem with local pump station 6 to act as a barrier to storm surge and lake flooding . In January 2006 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it had finished the temporary repairs of the breached section of the levee, and construction of more permanent repairs would commence . As a temporary measure, the corps constructed storm surge barrier gates and an interim pump station at the lake end of the canal . In February, 2007, a contract was awarded to WESTON Solutions to increase the pumping capacity of the 17th Street Canal . </P>

What was the direct cause of the flooding along the eastern side of the 17th street canal (site 2)
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