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Sun
Aug 13
2017
8:42 AM
S&WB Stormwater Pumping Capacity

UPDATE: Mayor Landrieu Provides Additional Sewerage and Water Board Update

Today, Mayor Mitch Landrieu and City officials announced that the turbine damaged on Wednesday night, Turbine #1, is running after being successfully repaired and gradually brought back online. Eighteen of 26 generators ordered for additional capacity and redundancy have arrived and are being connected. This is expected to be complete on Monday. Eight final generators or in route from Miami and will be delivered on Sunday. This redundancy will remain throughout Hurricane Season. The City will update residents on generator deliveries as information becomes available.

Sandbags Available for Pick-Up

In anticipation of an inclement weather event this afternoon, sandbags can be picked up today until they run out at the intersection of Perdido and S. Lopez Streets. Additional locations to pick up sandbags will be announced later.

Preparing for High Water

NOPD has staged barricades in 20 areas prone to flooding, including under overpasses around the city. At this time, the City has staged high water vehicles and other response vehicles in the event that the city experiences any flooding have any flooding.

Viewing Real-Time Traffic Accidents Online

The City also unveiled Streetwise, a website for viewing real-time reports of flooding and accidents from 911 calls. To see in real-time where reported traffic accidents and street flooding are occurring, visit http://streetwise.nola.gov.

Turbine Power Loss on Wed., August 9

On Wednesday, August 9, the Sewerage & Water Board lost service to one of its power turbines, leaving only one turbine and Entergy power as the remaining power source. As a result, the system’s capacity to drain stormwater from the streets is diminished for the East Bank of New Orleans, west of the Industrial Canal. Pumping stations in Algiers, New Orleans East and Lower Ninth Ward have diesel generators and therefore will not be impacted in this event. 

Sewerage & Water Board and GE crews worked 24-hour shifts to repair the turbine and to secure backup power to restore power to drainage pumping stations to the impacted portion of the city.

Mayor Signs Declaration of Emergency

On August 10, Mayor Mitch Landrieu signed a declaration of emergency for the City of New Orleans and Governor John Bel Edwards signed an emergency declaration the State of Louisiana as well. The local disaster declaration allows for more flexible strategy and purchasing of assets needed in emergencies.

City Advises Residents to Take Precautions 

If all of the power from Entergy continues, the City will be able to handle typical rainfall. However, the city remains at risk in the event of a major rain storm until additional turbines are brought back online. Out of an abundance of caution, the City is urging residents in the affected area to move their vehicles to higher ground, take necessary actions to protect personal property, and stay off of roadways during rainstorms unless an emergency makes it absolutely necessary to do so. 

Residents should call 911 to report street flooding and life-threatening emergencies. Residents are advised to remain indoors during heavy rainfall. Residents should call 311 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for non-emergency services and general information. 311 will maintain these hours daily at this time. The City’s Emergency Operations Center will remain open and staffed until further notice.

At this time, drinking water and sewerage services for all of the city are unaffected by this outage.

The City will keep residents updated through email alerts and Twitter @NOLAReady.

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