After Major Flooding Failures, New Orleans To Revamp Stormwater Resilience
As the site of one of the most devastating flooding disasters in recent history, when Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, New Orleans has unique stormwater challenges and innovative solutions to overcome them. But recent failures after heavy rainfall will see the city once again refocus its efforts around flooding resilience.
“Leaders of New Orleans’ emergency preparedness department and the Sewerage & Water Board said they failed to recognize and communicate the potential for street flooding [adding] that residents should have been warned of the perilous state of the city’s drainage system,” The Times-Picayune reported.
As powerful storms dumped as much as five inches of rain on the city, streets and vehicles were left underwater. The Sewerage & Water Board experienced power issues that forced one of its turbines — which power the system’s pumping system — to go offline. Another of the turbines had been unavailable for weeks, and the reduced capacity resulted in significant flooding.
“You can see water to the top of car wheels and engines,” shared a local news report. “One family was seen kayaking through the water on their block.”
The Sewerage & Water Board also failed to inform residents about the potential for floods as the local “NOLA Ready” text alert system wasn’t used.
“Utility officials … figured the National Weather Service’s rainfall predictions of two to four inches over 48 hours would be manageable — even though forecasters issued escalating risk assessments before the storm and noted that saturated grounds heightened the potential for flash flooding,” according to the Times-Picayune.
As a flood-prone system that values the importance of storm resilience, New Orleans has been quick to address the mistakes and focus on forthcoming solutions.
“Officials stress that a permanent solution (to failing turbines) is on the way, with a new power complex and substation set to be delivering more reliable power to the system by summer 2025,” the Times-Picayune added. “In the future, NOLA Ready will automatically send text alerts whenever the National Weather Service issues advisories.”
To read more about how communities handle major rainfall, visit Water Online’s Stormwater Management Solutions Center.