U.S. Sen. David Vitter accused the Army Corps of Engineers on Monday of sitting on millions of dollars meant to improve levees in a part of south Louisiana flooded after Hurricane Ike.

WWL-TV

Despite heroic efforts, thousands of Terrebonne homes flooded.

He called a lack of "concrete action" in the two years since Congress appropriated $30 million for the work -- along with a study he deems unnecessary -- "highly irresponsible" and said the flooding that occurred in Terrebonne Parish should never have happened.

Vitter, who said the allegations were raised by state and local officials, said he plans to meet with corps and local leaders Wednesday.

"I have had it with this sort of bureaucratic nonsense that contributes directly to our extended pain and suffering," he wrote in an angry letter to the corps' top general, Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp.

The corps is reviewing Vitter's letter, said Amanda Jones, a spokeswoman for the corps. Jones in an e-mail late Monday said that Lt. Gen. Robert L. Van Antwerp, the corps' chief engineer, will meet with Vitter later this week to discuss the issue and other concerns.

Messages seeking comment from the parish president were not immediately returned.

In his letter, Vitter said $30 million secured in 2006 for nonfederal levees was meant to build "real flood control on the ground in Terrebonne Parish immediately. If this had been done over the past two years as directed and intended, Terrebonne Parish would have been saved from a very large percentage of the devastating flooding it suffered over the past month. It's just that simple."

Terrebonne Parish officials have estimated that 2,500 homes flooded after Ike.

Vitter said the corps had two options: to work with the ready-for-construction plans provided by state and local officials or to enter into an agreement -- the likes of which he is now demanding -- that would transfer the funding to state and local flood control officials to carry out the plans themselves.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)