Rita breaches levee in N. Orleans: official - Yahoo! News

Rita breaches levee in N. Orleans: official - Yahoo! News:

"The water was waist-high in New Orleans' vulnerable ninth ward and rising fast, according to local CBS affiliate WWL-TV.

The ward was the city's hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina just three weeks ago, with most homes reduced to piles of rubble, cars strewn about and relatively few buildings left completely intact.

Most residents of the ward had been evacuated in the aftermath of Katrina, and those remaining were being taken out on Friday, CNN said.

'We have discovered an overtopping on the industrial canal,' Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Mitch Frazier told local radio.

Water began seeping through the repaired section on Thursday but officials said they did not expect flooding on such a scale so soon."