NEW ORLEANS — Sewerage and Water Board specialists are currently inspecting two pumps that tripped offline at the pumping station on i-10 near the Metairie road exit.
SWBNO says Drainage Pumping Station 7, near Orleans Ave and I-610, saw the highest rainfall total at over 7 inches – 5.5 inches fell in the first two hours, which corresponds to a 25-year storm.
All three major drainage pumps at Drainage Pumping Station 7 were in operation during the storm, according to SWBNO officials.
SWBNO told WWL-TV in a statement, "One of the known issues we experienced on September 4 involved two smaller pumps adjacent to Drainage Pumping Station on Interstate 10 near the Metairie Road Exit tripping offline. An operator was able to get the pumps back online. Our facility maintenance specialists are onsite this morning investigating the two pumps at the smaller Pontchartrain Underpass Station as well as the larger pumps at the I-10 Drainage Pumping Station.
We are currently inspecting all frequency changers and power supplies at each station. As always, we will perform a thorough after-action report to evaluate how our crews and equipment performed. Our crews are evaluating underpass pumping stations to make sure equipment was working properly and will clear debris from the drains as needed. During the storm, we were utilizing both Turbines 4 and 5, so we had more than enough power to operate the necessary pumps.
When rain intensities are high – over one inch an hour – residents may see localized street flooding. Our city’s drainage system can handle one inch of rain per hour and a half or inch of rain each hour following. That means three inches of rain can take up to five hours to drain. Using this model, seven inches would take up to 12 hours – and that’s with catch basins and the minor drainage system in working order."
SWBNO also said that they are working on a web-based dashboard that will show the status of our canal levels and pumping and power system in real time.
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