NEW ORLEANS — Several streets throughout New Orleans flooded Saturday as a thunderstorm poured several inches of water on the city. Predictably, residents were not happy.
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The Sewerage & Water Board tweeted out shortly after the storm hit that their pump stations were fully manned and all were operational.
But even with all the pump stations working, they are designed to take in an inch of rain in the first hour and half an inch for every hour after that. As the storm moved through the city Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service said it dumped about 2 inches of rain in about 30 minutes in Downtown New Orleans.
Residents, even those who acknowledged the pumps were working, said there was something different about recent rains. Parts of the city that have not historically been flood risks took on water.
But also, because this is New Orleans, some of the areas experiencing flooding were predictable. We'd like to take this moment to remind drivers to check before they drive into standing water under overpasses in the city. Sometimes the water has hidden depths.
But by 4 p.m. the city was returning to normal, with the pumps bailing out water from most areas hit by street flooding. The NWS tweeted out a more optimistic weather forecast headed into the evening.