NEW ORLEANS -- The destruction of the roof of the Louisiana Superdome during Hurricane Katrina should not have happened, the body that oversees the operation of the building said in a suit filed in New Orleans Civil District Court.
The suit, by the Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District, the state and the building's insurers, said the installation of a new roof, completed in 2002, should have survived the storm intact.
"The roof was supposed to insure that the Superdome could serve
as a haven of evacuation of last resort for hurricanes which
threaten New Orleans; an ark in any storm where residents who could
not otherwise evacuate would be safely housed," said the lawsuit,
which was filed Monday.
At the height of the storm, Aug. 29, 2005, the wind peeled away
the Superdome's rubberized roof, which, before Katrina, was
believed to be able to withstand winds of 200 miles an hour. Doug
Thornton, a vice president of the company that manages the
building, said 70 percent of roof failed, allowing rain to pour
down on most areas inside.
"There was a massive failure in the roof resulting in its
complete destruction, water saturating the interior of the
Superdome and the beginning of a long nightmare for the tens of
thousands trapped inside," the suit said.
Fourteen defendants are named in the suit, which seeks
unspecified damages.
"We hope to sit down with the people involved and try to work
something out. But it is our belief, based on our engineering
consultants, that at the time the roof failed it should not have
failed given the design and products," said Larry M. Roedel, the
lawyer for the LSED.
"Under Louisiana law you don't asked for a specific amount of
damages," Roedel said. "You just allege the damages to exceed
$75,000. We believe our actual damages could exceed $100 million."
The defendants are: BFS Diversified Products, LLC; Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc.; Horizon Group of New England, Inc.; National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford; Johnson Controls, Inc.; E-Tek, Inc.; IMC Consulting Engineers, Inc.; Schrenk & Peterson Consulting Engineers, Inc.; Tremco Incorporated; Professional Service Industries, Inc.; Admiral Building Products, Inc.; RoofTech Consultants, Inc.; Barnhardt Manufacturing Company and North Carolina Foam Industries, Inc.