A major traffic backup occurred near the train underpass on the Pontchartrain Expressway headed into New Orleans after the Sewerage and Water Board said that two pumps that drain the area tripped offline as a line of strong storms passed through the city.
Traffic was completely halted in both directions for nearly a half an hour and then was slowly reopened as the pumps came back online and drained the area.
"One of the known issues we had today was two pumps at the Drainage Pumping Station on I-10 tripping offline," the S&WB said in an email. "An operator was able to get these pumps back online."
The Sewerage and Water Board said that nearly 5 and a half inches of rain fell near that underpass on I-10 during the storms.
Heavy traffic was reported Monday afternoon on I-10 after underpass flooding between West End and Metairie Road and the Labor Day traveling crowd was directed to use I-610, if possible.
At around 2:20 p.m. cars started to move, but there was still a backup as the highway recovers from the standstill and continues to deal with heavy rain.
Southeast Louisiana has been hit with heavy rain on Monday afternoon, with flooding reports coming from Mid City, Lakeview and Jefferson Parish.
Parts of Slidell and St. Tammany Parish have been hit with half a foot of rain.