Michael Bastasch
New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board director Cedric Grant blamed widespread flooding over the weekend on “climate change,” but it wasn’t long before news broke that broken water pumps were actually to blame.
Throughout the week, media reports have shown that New Orleans’s antiquated water pumping system failed to keep flooding at bay, and the problem hasn’t been resolved.
The mayor’s office warned Thursday morning a fire had taken out a turbine that powers most water pumping stations in the East Bank of New Orleans.
With more heavy rain forecast for this week, Mayor Mitch Landrieu is asking residents to prepare for flooding. August is also hurricane season, a time when pumping stations are vital to keeping storm drains from being overwhelmed.
That’s a very different message from city officials earlier in the week when Grant blamed flooding over the weekend on climate change.
“The frustration is that we are now in a different era,” Grant said Sunday, the day after the city was inundated by about nine inches of rain in three hours.
“We are in an era of climate change, where we have these rains every week, every month,” Grant said. “And it’s not just us. It’s the rest of the country that’s experiencing the same weather patterns.”
City officials reassured residents that all water pump stations were working at full capacity, but subsequent media reports indicated this was not the case.
Some of the pumps “were offline due to maintenance” and another “pump station operated at just 52 percent capacity,” CBS News reported. “Pumping stations in two of the hardest-hit areas went down to half- to two-thirds capacity on Saturday,” the Associated Press noted.
So, why did the water pumping system fail so badly? Some of New Orleans’s pump stations rely on a turn-of-the-20th-Century power plant that’s not able to power every pump during a heavy downpour.
NOLA.com reporter Chelsea Brasted has the details:
Why can’t the S&WB just plug in to Entergy’s grid to power its pumps? @NOLAnews explains. Get more: https://t.co/aDEclf8F9n pic.twitter.com/HcXghiqGL3
— chelsea brasted (@cabrasted) August 10, 2017
Only one of the five pumps uses a modern 60-cycle electricity, and city officials say it could “power 38 of the 58 pumps on the west side of the Industrial Canal on the east bank,” WWLTV reported.
Grant told New Orleans city council members he would retire after hurricane season ends. Public Works Director Mark Jernigan will resign as well.
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for Gods sake … poorly maintained levies and now poorly maintained pumps …
And they have the chutzpa to blame it on “climate change”.
Sadly, maintenance has little to do for it. The second levee that collapsed during Katrina was only just updated, so the newest one fell over not long after the old one in the 9th Ward.
Sickening, idiotic and very ignorant lying politicians. Can’t stand them.
A few of us who have spent some time in New Orleans discussing this recently agreed that an umbrella or raincoat has always been essential in summer. Weather patterns may have changed, somewhat wetter there, but it consistently has had 60 inches or more a year.
The flood of 1973, followed by two flood years, has been considered as bad as 1927, the river almost lost. All floods have different periodicities. The situation has been considerably improved but the worst flood was considered by the meteorologist who studied the 1927 flood to be 1858. If you have a lot of idle time you might want to look at the 92 page draft coastal master plan. Have not kept up with it lately, but the river has been a benefit with an exceptionally difficult problem for a long time.
http://coastal.la.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/2017-MP-Book_2-page-spread_Combined_01.05.2017.pdf
It is interesting that Roger Sowell’s adjacent article on electricity has Louisiana as the cheapest. It is not a good place for wind, solar, or water power.
I had no idea that anyone was still running 25 hz equipment anywhere. I would presume the appropriations to replace that equipment was diverted to some more socially desirable project.
BTW Griff, the sort of rain New Orleans had is typical in some parts of the US. We in suburban Austin TX had over 4 inches (10cm) in about five hours last week. That was a normal storm.
Going back to the original story, I note that it speaks of 25-hertz electricity going out of favor before WWII. However, I can recall when Ontario (southern Ontario, at least) converted from 25- to 60-hertz electricity back in the 50s, I believe (I was young at the time and a lot has happened since then…..). I can remember that the provincial hydro board changed motors free of charge so that they would operate on 60-hertz power. They knew that the number of motors would increase over the years, but I don’t think that even they imagined how many more they would have to change now!
Looks like Cedric Grant is up for the next “Ray Nagin Honesty in Government Award”.
Retire, the bastards should be jailed.
A normal city would condemn homes that were in constant peril of flooding because it isn’t safe for the children. NO, on the other hand, spends millions of dollars from the other 49 states to pump water out of the city’s cellar. They should spend that money removing those structures and allow nature to take over, or fill it in with soil (which will likely increase the rate of subsidence). Leaving it as it is is not an option.
Similar story in the NYTimes on Portugal and forest fires. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/world/europe/portugal-forest-fires-pedrogao-grande.html
All do to increased dryness and heat caused by climate change only if you look at the monthly data for Portugal from the World Bank Climate Portal http://sdwebx.worldbank.org/climateportal/index.cfm?page=country_historical_climate&ThisCCode=PRT#
You get this for the top 25 dryest months
Rainfall (mm) ” Year” Month
0.33297 1937 8
0.41206 1948 7
0.50705 1967 7
0.50815 1935 7
0.64743 1986 7
0.85684 1978 7
0.86684 1942 7
0.97077 1997 3
1.01123 1962 8
1.07022 1978 8
1.15889 1988 8
1.16683 1913 7
1.27668 1917 7
1.34659 1947 7
1.37323 1929 8
1.38184 1926 8
1.40512 1920 7
1.46245 1969 8
1.51138 2013 8
1.52709 1968 7
1.70639 1926 7
2.07414 1992 7
2.08346 1979 8
2.19533 1974 8
And for Temps
Temperature (C) ” Year” Month
24.323 2003 8
24.2227 2010 8
24.1287 1989 7
24.0653 1991 8
23.9248 1990 7
23.9214 1928 7
23.8657 1998 8
23.7509 1961 8
23.7502 1990 8
23.6975 2010 7
23.6729 2006 7
23.4925 2009 8
23.4713 1926 8
23.4575 1969 7
23.4336 2005 8
23.3562 1933 8
23.323 1949 8
23.2742 2006 8
23.2649 1953 8
23.2596 1973 8
23.2428 1986 7
23.1084 1991 7
23.0714 1940 8
23.0179 2004 7
Seems that “climate change” is becoming the new “act of God” for city administrators. Like in the not so distant past, “act of God” was not an insurance collectable since “God” could not be held libel and sued and so city administrators could not likewise be held libel and sued given the presumption of innocence in that they, city administrators, were not acting at or on “Gods” requests or otherwise abiding by commission or omission.
Good heavens, climate changes without mans involment. Canada had 2 miles of ice ontop of her 14,000 years ago it melted quickly without CO2 industrial outputs. The oceans filled and flooded Doogerland (England was not an island) and the Bering land bridge. Man needs to prepare for these changes including moving cities out of lowlands.
Think of the money they saved by just pretending to maintain their generators.
I’m originally from New Orleans. Been flooding from heavy rain events ever since I can remember back to the early 60s. Even a afternoon thunderstorm would cause street flooding. Nothing has changed. All the politicians want a cut of the action. Just a matter of time before another Katrina type event happens in NOLA.
Democrat Officials + Rains = Flooding (New Orleans)
Democrat Officials + No Rains = Drought (California)
…