NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A surprise ruling by a federal appeals court that lets the Army Corps of Engineers off the hook for paying compensation for Hurricane Katrina’s catastrophic flooding isn’t going over well on the streets of New Orleans.

People in southern Louisiana have long taken for granted that the flooding in the wake of the 2005 storm was a manmade disaster — one caused specifically by the corps — and they have wanted the agency to pay up for lost homes and property.