NEW ORLEANS — Many residents across New Orleans awoke Saturday morning to find their neighborhood streets flooded by torrential rainfall that began shortly before sunrise.
The Sewerage and Water Board cited equipment breakdowns as a contributing factor to the street flooding, but a lack of warning is perhaps more concerning for residents in Broadmoor, Mid-City and Lakeview left with vehicles inundated with contaminated floodwater.
Several residents in the 4400 block of South Tonti in Broadmoor found themselves assessing the damage of their flooded vehicles just a few hundred feet from what would have been relative safety atop the Napoleon Avenue neutral ground.
None of whom said they received a NOLA Ready text alerting them of potential street flooding or the lifting of parking restrictions on the neutral grounds.
That's because the city's emergency alert text service did not issue an alert about the storm or the availability of moving vehicles to higher ground.
During media interviews on Monday, both city and S&WB officials said they were caught off guard by the heavier-than-expected rainfall despite forecasters like WWL Louisiana meteorologist Alexa Trischler and the National Weather Service of New Orleans advising of a "Tornado Watch" and "Flash Flood Warning" as early as Friday evening.
"We reviewed the weather the night before," said Collin Arnold, Director of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (NOHSEP). "We were concerned about winds and lightning but the chances for rain were going more to the Northshore and were pretty slight.
"By the time we started getting an idea of that cell that was parked over us and kept regenerating, unfortunately, it was too late for an alert to lift neutral ground parking."
The lack of urgency and communication is concerning given the amount of information available and the timeliness to react.
TIMELINE
- Friday, Dec. 1 - 6:30 p.m. — WWL Louisiana meteorologist Alexa Trischler warns of flooding potential early Saturday morning.
- Friday, Dec. 1 - 8:33 p.m. — National Weather Service issues 'Tornado Watch' in effect until 4 a.m.
- Friday, Dec. 1 - 10 p.m. — WWL Louisiana meteorologist Alexa Trischler shares Saturday morning forecast with 'Tornado Watch' in effect until 4 a.m. and 'Flood Watch' until 6 a.m., talks of potential for street flooding.
- Saturday, Dec. 2 4:38 a.m. — WWL-TV Weather tweets 'Street Flood Advisory' for Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes until 7:45 a.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 2 - 5:11 a.m. — National Weather Service issues 'Flash Flood Warning' for New Orleans, Metairie and Marrero until 7:45 a.m. with a note that "street flooding is happening or about to happen. Don't drive through flooded roads"
- Saturday, Dec. 2 - 6 a.m. — NWS New Orleans provides flash flood update and cautions motorists while traveling.
- Saturday, Dec. 2 - 6:30 a.m. — WWL Louisiana meteorologist Alexa Trischler warns residents of a 'Flash Flood Warning' in effect until 7:45 a.m.
Meanwhile, NOLA Ready's only post on social media was at 10:48 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2, advising paradegoers that the "Children’s Hospital Holiday Parade still rolling today. Please drive safely and dress accordingly for potential showers."
NOLA Ready did retweet an NWS New Orleans tweet nearly an hour later (11:44 a.m.) stating, "The final batch of moderate to heavy rain is moving through NOLA and coastal MS now with a few light showers lingering back to the west. Both areas received heavy rain overnight so this additional rain could cause isolated flash flooding and ponding of water in low-lying areas."
When pressed about the lack of alerts and notice of parking restrictions being lifted, Arnold had this to say, "I just want people to realize that every time it rains, we can’t lift parking restrictions and do those types of things. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes with different agencies, New Orleans Police Department, Sanitation, Public Works, Parks and Parkways, RTA. There’s a lot of consultation we have to do about these things."
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
