NEW ORLEANS — Wednesday’s rain overwhelmed New Orleans’ drainage systems and caused widespread flooding. Ahead of the storm, the Sewerage and Water Board said the drainage system would not be operating at optimal power, thanks to two backup generators and a turbine that were offline.
Many businesses, homes, and cars were flooded. At the Broadmoor restaurant El Pavo Real, owner Lindsey Mclellan said she is used to cleaning up after flooding. “It’s pretty consistently a concern we always have to worry about,” she said.
Wednesday, customers were inside when water started coming into the dining room. “They kind of, like, moved their dining experience to a higher part of the dining room then they continued their lunch,” she said, laughing.
Then, the water kept rising, and they finally left. It was a scene repeated in neighborhoods, highways, and underpasses throughout the city. Some areas got 6 inches of rain– more than the city’s average for the entire month of April.
The S&WB said that was far more than the city’s drainage system could handle in that short of a time. At full power, it can pump out “one inch of rain per hour for the first hour and half an inch of rain every hour after,” according to a statement sent before Wednesday’s storm.
And it was not operating at full power. The statement warned that there were “40.5 megawatts of 25-hertz power available, which is not optimal. At peak demand, our system needs 44 megawatts of power.” The gap was due to only 3 of 5 backup generators being online, as well as the loss of Turbine 4, a century-old power source that has been out for repairs since March.
The lower power meant the pumps could not drain the city’s basins as quickly. It is impossible to tell how much the lag may have contributed to the flooding on Wednesday.
The depth of the water is easier to tell. Water lines around the Broadmoor area show what appear to be knee-high and above flooding on some streets.
At El Pavo Real, “It came up right above the baseboards,” said Mclellan. She and her staff were able to clear it out, dry the restaurant, and bleach the floor in time to open Thursday morning.
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