NEW ORLEANS — As up to 7 inches of rain pounded the city Saturday morning, the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Department used a complex combination of power sources to power sump pumps to prevent street flooding. I had a hard time collecting them.
On Wednesday, a City Council committee convened utility executives to explain what happened.
“Our systems are fragile. They will probably be even more vulnerable than they are now. More communication is part of the solution. Until we have a stronger foundation in terms of increased reliability and efficiency. , it may be necessary to over-prepare,” said Ghassan Korban, SWBNO Secretary General.
“First of all, the equipment we’re using when it’s on screen is older than the entire City Council combined,” said Councilman Joe Giarrusso. “We know it’s going to collapse. What can we do in response to an emergency to mitigate it or to get supplemental power?”
During the storm, Turbine 4, a critical source of 25 hertz power to many pumps, was shut down. Turbine 5 has been out of action since late October due to mechanical problems.
This allows SWBNO to secure approximately half of the electricity needed to run the pumps during peak demand times.
According to the water board’s after-action report, there were a number of issues that hampered the utility’s ability to generate electricity before the rains arrived.
Turbine 4 was only operating at half of its 20-megawatt capacity to allow for maintenance on the boiler room fan before it was finally taken offline.
Two of the five EMD generators that serve as backup for the turbines were under repair. The three available machines will not start, according to the report. We finally started about an hour after the rain stopped.
Two of the six frequency converters needed to convert power from the grid for use in the city’s older sump pumps also failed.
When Turbine 4 failed, the Lakeview and Mid-City pumps shut down. Other pumping stations were also forced to operate at reduced output. This was followed by widespread road flooding across the city.
Also during Wednesday’s meeting, council members asked the city’s Homeland Security Director Colin Arnold why residents were not receiving alerts from the city’s NOLA Ready system.
Typically, a text message will be sent to residents informing them that it is safe to park on neutral land due to the possibility of flooding.
“All of us here on the City Council have heard complaints from citizens asking why they weren’t warned,” said City Council Vice President Helena Moreno. “Where was my girlfriend’s NOLA Ready Alert?”
“I was more worried about the tornado sightings and the lightning, and then the continued rain. Given the circumstances that happened, that was my mistake,” Arnold said. “The bottom line is that no warning was given.”
SWBNO currently hopes to have T5 back online by December 15th.
T4 is expected to be sidelined until further notice.
As a long-term solution, a new Entergy substation that will power all pumps is currently under construction at the water authority’s main plant and is expected to be available by the 2025 peak hurricane season.
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