8/4/2019 David Welch, Gentilly Community Improvement Association

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Ms. Nicole Hobson-MorrisExecutive DirectorLouisiana State Office of Historic Preservation1051 North Third StreetBaton Rouge, LA 70802

Dear Ms. Hobson-Morris,

As President of the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association, it is my pleasure tosupport the nomination of the New Orleans Levee Breach Sites at the 17th Streetand Industrial Canal for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

I bore witness to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the devastating impact the leveesfailures had on the neighborhoods and the city. I can testify to the still unfinishedefforts to recuperate from that fateful day the levees failed.

Listing these two levee breach sites would be an important avenue for theimpacted residents to preserve and remember their history.

These sites of civil engineering failure also serve as a warning to the nation toensure levee systems are designed, built and maintained properly.

Major policy changes regarding levees and floodwalls have been implementednot only in Louisiana, but also throughout the nation. These breach sites as wellas over 50 others that day have prompted the passage of the first ever NationalLevee Safety Act which called for a nationwide levee inventory and theestablishment of a levee safety program to make sure levees protect the citizens

they are supposed to protect.

We hope to soon commemorate an event that people all over the world saw onTV.

If you have any questions regarding this letter, you are welcome to contact me atyour convenience.

Yours truly,

David WelchPresident, GCIA3939 Gentilly Blvd. #407, New Orleans, LA 70126president@gcia.us