NEW ORLEANS — When heavy rain flooded parts of New Orleans Wednesday morning, WWLTV news crews visited Claiborne Avenue near the New Orleans Police Department's Fifth District Station.
Jackie Shahan moved to the Upper 9th Ward three years ago from the Lower 9th Ward.
“We moved on this side thinking it would be better, but as you can see, it’s still pretty bad out here. The water is following me,” said Shahan.
Drivers did their best to navigate flooded streets.
“Come on, now. Really? If all the pumps were on, do you think the water would be backed up like this? And this is around the whole city, man. I couldn’t even get on the interstate,” Glenn Alexander said.
Alexander then pointed us to the heavier flooding along Franklin Avenue near I-610, and that’s where WWLTV news crews headed.
A short time after crews started shooting video of the flooding at the I-610 overpass, a truck pulled up. WWLTV's Thanh Troung didn’t think the driver would risk going into the water, but then he did.
To be clear, he drove around barricades to get to the underpass. It didn’t take long for the water to win out, leaving the driver stranded. Luckily for him, members of the New Orleans Emergency Medical Services were nearby and managed to put a raft in the water and pull him to safety.
“I saw somebody else go through there earlier. That’s why I went through it,” said James Powell.
Powell is from Picayune, Mississippi. He said he didn’t anticipate the water to be that deep. On Wednesday, he got a quick introduction to flooding in New Orleans.
“It was going fine, and all of sudden, it just stopped. When it stopped, I was like 'uh oh,'” said Powell.
Powell said someone was going to pick him up. During flooding and rain events, New Orleans officials have repeatedly said the phrase “turn around, don’t drown.” It’s a phrase that some people still need to hear.
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