Federal budget cuts will stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from conducting its regular inspections of New Orleans’ levees in 2025 and 2026 — a break in oversight that comes 20 years after Hurricane Katrina’s failures flooded most of the city.

The Corps typically conducts a full inspection of the region’s levees every year, according to Jennifer Stephens, the Corps’ levee safety program manager. The Corps considers it best-practice to conduct this type of inspection at least every two years, but does not have funding to do it in 2025 or 2026.

These inspections are a key component of the Corps’ efforts to keep the city safe from storm surge flooding, and a safeguard against the catastrophic levee failures that took place 20 years ago this month during Katrina, which flooded 80% o

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