But the immediate cause of the flooding was the failure of floodwalls and levees that were guaranteed to withstand a Katrina-sized storm surge, but failed thanks to faulty design and construction by the Army Corps of Engineers.

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After years of planning and delays, in 2009 the Army Corps of Engineers started construction on a project, funded by the Department of Interior, to replace one mile of the road with a bridge.

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Their conclusions: The "hurricane protection system" built by the Corps had serious design and construction flaws, baked into the system over 40 years under administrations of both parties, that caused catastrophic failure in more than 50 locations under storm surge conditions markedly less than the system was advertised to withstand.

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The report says the Venezuelan Army Corps of Engineers is now studying construction of a highway between Puerto Cabezas in the Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and Rio Blanco in the central department of Matagalpa, also to be integrated into the network linking to the Dry Canal.

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