Mayor Landrieu Provides Additional Sewerage and Water Board Update
Today, Mayor Mitch Landrieu and City officials announced that Turbine #1 has been successfully repaired, is being monitored and being gradually brought back online throughout the day. Twenty-six generators have been ordered for additional capacity and redundancy and six arrived last night. We expect 12 additional generators to arrive today. The remaining eight generators are on their way and expected to arrive tomorrow. This redundancy will remain throughout Hurricane Season.
Sandbags Available for Pick-Up
In anticipation of an inclement weather event this afternoon, sandbags can be picked up until 5 p.m. today or until they run out at the intersection of Perdido and S. Lopez Streets.
Viewing Real-Time Traffic Accidents Online
The City also unveiled Streetwise, a website for viewing real-time traffic accidents and street flooding. 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
Yesterday morning, 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. 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.
The Orleans Parish School Board and the Archdiocese of New Orleans have announced that all schools will continue to be closed today. Additionally, Municipal and Traffic Court remain closed today.
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.