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S&WB: Lightning, voltage issues took down some pumps during Wednesday's flood

"Running a business, especially a restaurant in the summer is hard enough without us taking time out of our profitability and productivity to deal with water..."

NEW ORLEANS — Business was finally returning to Laurel Street Bakery in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, July 10, heavy rain pushed up to five inches of water into the popular business near South Broad Street and Washington Avenue.

"It was coming in the front door, coming in the back door, coming up from every floor drain that I have, which is also new," bakery owner Hillary Guttman said.

RELATED: S&WB: Lightning knocked several pumps offline in Wednesday's flood

Guttman's business is across the street from Drainage Pumping Station One.

Sewerage and Water Board Executive Director Ghassan Korban told a city council committee lightning strikes knocked out Entergy power to a pair of pumps at the station during Wednesday's rain event.

The pumps remained out of commission during the height of the storm for up to 45 minutes.

RELATED: 60 tons of debris pulled from N.O. catch basins since Wednesday

"We had four pumps operating and managing the early part of the rain event and lightning did strike and took two of our pumps out," Korban said.    

Korban also said several other pumps across the city went out at different stations, likely due to lightning strikes as well.

He maintains with more than eight inches of rain in less than three hours, the outages likely had no significant impact on drainage operations.

"With all the pumps running and the amount of rain that fell you would of had water backing up in the streets," Korban said. "It would have been a matter of a few inches less or a few inches more if everything else was perfect."

RELATED: Widespread street flooding in New Orleans, S&WB says pumps were fully staffed and operational

Back at the Laurel Street Bakery, the owner says she's not surprised by the pump outages.

"Running a business, especially a restaurant in the summer is hard enough without us taking time out of our profitability and productivity to deal with water on the ground," Guttman said.

RELATED: S&WB: No drainage system in the nation could handle this morning's rain

Voltage issues were also to blame for a pair of pumps that went out in the Lower Ninth Ward, officials said. 

An electrician and additional operator will be stationed there until the issue is resolved.

The utility also revealed some drainage canals such as the Lafitte Canal in Mid-City overtopped their banks for a time during the storm. 

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