-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Calling the ruling `` huge , '' New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on Thursday reacted to a federal judge finding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ' failure to maintain a shipping channel led to catastrophic flooding during Hurricane Katrina . Nagin said he hopes the court decision will `` open up the floodgates '' for others to file lawsuits against the federal government , including his Louisiana city . However , he acknowledged it 's likely the federal government will appeal Wednesday 's ruling . Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller said in an e-mail the government is reviewing the decision and has made `` no determination as to what future steps it would take in this matter . '' U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. ruled that the `` negligence of the Corps '' by failing to maintain the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet waterway `` was not policy , but insouciance , myopia and short-sightedness . '' `` For over 40 years , the Corps was aware that the Reach II levee protecting Chalmette and the Lower Ninth Ward was going to be compromised by the continued deterioration of the -LSB- waterway -RSB- . ... The Corps had an opportunity to take a myriad of actions to alleviate this deterioration or rehabilitate this deterioration and failed to do so . Clearly , the expression ` talk is cheap ' applies here . '' Duval issued the ruling in a lawsuit brought by six plaintiffs affected by the 2005 hurricane , who alleged the Corps of Engineers was liable for damages . The judge ruled against one couple , who lived in New Orleans East , but awarded the others , from the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish , damages ranging from $ 100,000 to $ 317,000 . Nagin said he had thought the ruling was a long shot . `` This was a surprise but a pleasant one , '' he said . The decision applies not only to the six plaintiffs , attorney Pierce O'Donnell said , but also to some 100,000 homes and businesses in St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward . Under the precedent set by Duval 's ruling , they too will be entitled to compensation , O'Donnell said . At a news conference Thursday , Craig Taffaro , president of St. Bernard Parish , said , `` It 's a bittersweet victory in the sense that yes , we are at the table , yes , we are grateful for the judge 's ruling and for the legal team to deliver us to this point , but what a shame that we had to go through such devastation and destruction to get here . '' At one point a Category 5 hurricane , Katrina had weakened to a Category 3 storm with top sustained winds of 127 mph when it made landfall on the morning of August 29 , 2005 , between Grand Isle , Louisiana , and the mouth of Mississippi River . Its winds were only slightly diminished when it passed over more populated coastal areas hours later . More than 1,800 people died in the storm , including nearly 1,600 in Louisiana . In New Orleans , the city 's levee system failed and widespread flooding occurred . Overall , the storm damage covered more than 90,000 square miles and displaced nearly 300,000 people , causing more than $ 81 billion in damage . Ivor van Heerden , a researcher who warned of the potential for catastrophic damage from a hurricane , said the ruling is `` total vindication for everybody who was involved . '' `` I think he 's called a spade a spade , '' van Heerden told CNN by phone . The former deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center said the university fired him because of the investigation he led into the levee failures . The probe put much of the blame for the disaster on the Corps of Engineers . He alleged Thursday that the university blocked him from being an expert witness in the case , but said he `` put together a lot of the science '' and reviewed the defense 's explanation to find the holes . `` Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was a manmade catastrophe with a hurricane trigger , '' he said . `` I saw the suffering of the people in New Orleans . ... Finally there is the potential of compensation . '' He said he intends to file a lawsuit against LSU , which he said has to pay him through the end of his contract , which ends in May . LSU did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Thursday . CNN 's Ashley Hayes contributed to this report .