May 31, 2023 - News

New Orleans preps levees, power grid for hurricane season

As another hurricane season begins, infrastructure remains the biggest concern in New Orleans — drains, levees and the power grid, especially.

Here's what the various agencies are saying:

Drainage system

The Sewerage and Water Board says that 92 of the city's 99 major drainage pumps are working. (Check the status of pumps closest to you.)
SWBNO said it can handle about an inch of rain per hour. Beyond that, it's a half-inch an hour. (So two inches of rainfall in an hour would take three hours to drain, three inches would be five hours, and so forth.)

Entergy New Orleans and Entergy Louisiana were hit hard during Hurricane Ida in 2021; the storm knocked down all eight transmission lines into the city.
The transmission line that crosses the Mississippi River has been rebuilt and reinforced to withstand wind speeds of up to 175mph, an Entergy spokesperson says.
Entergy is also using the start of the season to share storm safety tips like avoiding downed power lines, and to use their app and social channels for alerts and an outage map.

Debris and solid waste was a huge problem after Ida in 2021. Officials say they have contracts in place for emergency debris removal heading into 2023, along with plans to resume solid waste contractor operations within 72 hours of a storm.

The mayor and other officials encouraged residents Wednesday to sign up for emergency text alerts by texting NOLAREADY to 77925, and follow @nolaready on social media.

The city's upgraded levee system after Hurricane Katrina finally was finished last year when the Army Corps of Engineers handed it off to the state's Coastal Protection and Restaurant Authority.
All levees, flood walls, floodgates and surge barriers have been inspected going into the season, with a few temporary repairs, officials said Wednesday.