More Rain For Already-Soggy New Orleans

8 Inches Fell Monday; Schools, Offices, Businesses Shut; Residents Nervous

(CBS/AP)  Heavy rains have inundated areas of New Orleans, and authorities warned residents only now recovering from Hurricane Katrina not to drive through flooded streets for fear of creating wakes that could send water into homes.

More rain was forecast for Tuesday, after more than 8 inches of rain fell Monday on parts of the flood-prone city.

Mayor Ray Nagin shut City Hall early and schools across the city closed, in anticipation of more flooding that on Monday disrupted businesses and stalled traffic.

"Any time you see this kind of heavy downpour, it definitely makes people extremely nervous, especially going through something like Katrina. As soon as you see that water creeping up closer to your driveway, closer to your door, it makes you apprehensive," says Stacia Wilson of CBS affiliate WWL-TV.

Waist-high water in parts of eastern New Orleans soaked businesses, some only recently reopened after being damaged by 2005's Hurricane Katrina.

All the city's drainage pumps were working properly, but were unable to keep up with the intense rainfall, emergency preparedness officials said. They urged motorists to stay off the streets.

In some areas, more than 2 inches of rain fell in an hour, while the city's pumps can handle only a maximum 1 inch in the first hour of a rainfall and half an inch every hour thereafter, said Robert Jackson, a spokesman for the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board.

"We just have to continue to work with our neighbors until we can develop a greater pump capacity," said Col. Terry Ebbert, director of Homeland Security for the City of New Orleans.

Making problems worse in New Orleans were catch basins clogged with debris from gutted or renovated homes. Jackson urged residents to clean out the basins to help in draining standing water from streets.

Meanwhile, officials closed a gate on the Harvey Canal in suburban Jefferson Parish where the waters threatened to top the walls. It was one of several in the area placed under new safety guidelines after Katrina's waters breached two New Orleans canals, causing catastrophic flooding.

The corps has worked to strengthen the canal, about 5 miles from downtown New Orleans, but engineers worried that water being driven into it might lead to flooding. The area around the canal includes homes and businesses.

Unlike the canal walls that broke during Katrina, the walls on the Harvey Canal are not considered at threat of being breached by rising waters, said Chris Accardo, the corps' operations chief.

"The gates were closed to minimize seepage and overtopping," he said.

Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, ahead of a strong cold front, sparked the swift and strong rainfall that blanketed the area. Bob Wagner, a forecaster with the Slidell office of the National Weather Service, said the rain should slowly diminish Tuesday and bring with it cooler temperatures.

Despite the flooding potential, the rain also offered relief to parts of Louisiana that have been abnormally dry. Until Monday's drenching, rainfall for New Orleans was about 11 inches below normal for the year.

The scattered showers and thunderstorms also came as a blessing to other drought-stricken areas of the Southeast on Monday. Still, climatologists say it will take more than a few scattered storms to pull the region out of a record drought.

Almost one-third of the Southeast is covered by an "exceptional" drought - the worst drought category.

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[rushlimpdrug]

If they start dancing in the streets the water will look like chocolate and that would make the mayor naggin verry happy.
Start dancing you fools!
Can''t wait to see if bush will do a "fly-bye" as he heads to the CA fires.
That would be a riot.

[badmofojim]

They are rednecks down in that part. Simply too hard for them to comprehend that Sh*tty pumps and lots of rain equals flooding.

Oh noes i just told them the formula.

[craigh9]

marcodele:

I am sorry for what you lost and all the people of New Orleans lost and am more than happy to help repair peoples lives. That is far different then repeating the same problems over and over again. I disagree with your forrest fire assessment, the mere fact that the forrest is burned reduces the likelihood of another fire in the near futre significantly in that given area. Mud slides become more the issue and I have the same issue with rebuilding in an area where future difficulties are likely. Yes, much of the coastal south was hit hard by Katrina, but it is New Orleans that is at a very high risk of future catastrophies. You are below sea level, you have a basin which funnels water to you in hurricanes much less than cat 5. Recreate New Orleans all you like - but do it up stream on higher ground so my grandchildren don''t have to pay for it 10 times over!!! Most of our ports are situated in such a manner they are protected from storm surges to a large degree. Why does the port of New Orleans have to be directly on the gulf - move it up the Mississippi, seems to me that Philadelphia is a large port and is no where near the ocean!

[au_fait]

What a f*ing joke. New Orleans receives 8" of rain in one day and they make national headlines. Pensacola received 13" in one day as well as tornadoes and do they make national mainstream news. I am so sick of No. It is nothing but a city with a mayor who likes to cry so that he can receive attention and funds.

[marcodele]

Craig:

The likelihood of more wildfires in Southern California is much higher than a category 5 storm surge hitting New Orleans again within the 100 next hundred years. And your auto insurance goes up when a bunch of drunk drivers in some other state causes millions of dollars in damage. So like it or not, you''re paying for others in one way or another.

And the last time I looked, we were one country. I don''t mind my tax dollars helping those in Southern California practically EVERY year, and I don''t understand the outcry by mostly racist neocons who seem to have a special problem with New Orleans, not the Gulf Coast, JUST New Orleans, getting federal aid for the biggest natural and man made disaster in American history. People don''t seem to focus on the big picture, that it was 9,000 square miles of disaster from Biloxi to New Orleans. They seem to single out New Orleans. Hmmmmm, wonder why?

And since it was federal levees that failed to meet their own standards, let those responsible pay for the damages. The taxpayers already paid for them once.

And for the record, I lost everything in Katrina and did not seek nor receive one dime in federal or state aid. And there are hundreds of thousands just like me still struggling to get back to normal without being judged by the Limbaugh Nation.

[craigh9]

If can all be managed as marcodele states and those from New Orleans feel strongly about rebuilding then do it with one proviso - when it all falls apart don''t come looking for money from the rest of us. All the other areas you listed have a sizable hit or miss ratio. Tornados, fires, earthquakes, etc..New Orleans will always be at risk, and once a major event occurs such as Katrina rebuilding efforts are at extreme risk while re-implementing safe gaurds. The likelihood of re0ccurrance is way too high. Deal with it!

[marcodele]

First of all, I''m in New Orleans and there was no rain forecast for today, Tuesday, so I''m not sure why this article appears.

To those of you who keep saying the third largest port in the country should be closed or "moved upstream" - can you tell me one area of our great country that doesn''t have a potentially deadly natural threat?

Just ask the people of Southern California today. Should we wipe So. Cal. off the map too? And do those people who live in the Tornado Belt deserve what they get every spring? And what about the people who die in blizzards every year. Is that what they deserve for living in the snow belt?

Get real people. New Orleans is here to stay, right where it is. Coastal erosion can be managed, natural threats will always exist in every part of the country.

And I hate to disappoint all the neocons, but not all fates are deserved.

[craigh9]

Below sea level and in hurricane territory is a lousy situation. It''s time to stop trying to deal with it by rebuilding - it''s time to move upstream; period

[octavianfdlr]

mbcsmith said, at 10:36 AM : Oct 23, 2007:

"You snowbirds crack me up. You''re an idiot. So now rain in New Orleans is from global warming."
________________________________________________

Anyone who has been reading the warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel knows that "Global Warming" is supposed to produce simultaneous floods and drought. This is exactly what is happening in New Orleans: The streets are several feet under water while simultaneously being abnormally dry! (Well, that is what the article seemed to be saying...)

I suppose that "Global Cooling" would instead produce simultaneous drought and floods? (That is, the other way around)

[sharncedar]

Yeah, we better tell the Dutch. Can''t have any land below sea level, gee, that''s jes dumb. They better evacuate 50% of THEIR WHOLE COUNTRY. Coursen they isn''t smarties like us ''mericans, why we know all about free markets and capitalism and stuff which means we don''t so nothin'' and let enitre cities go under water, cause heck, ain''t no rich people living there is there. Too bad we don''t know about ***** and water engineering projects and working together for the common good. I gues that''s all jes fuzzy math ,har har har hey is it gettin'' wet in hyear?

[mbcsmith]

I believe if it weren''''t for the MrGO New Orleans wouldn''''t have flooded hardly at all. I''''m not sure whose idea it was to build this outlet but it sure was a stinker.


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Posted by kennergirl at 02:43 PM : Oct 23, 2007

Funny. This area has flooded since the 1700''s. The 1920''s floods killed hundreds, yet they still build below sea level. It isn''t the Mr GO, it''s the whole idea that you can repel floods while below sea level.

[kennergirl]

The government needs to close the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (aka Mr. GO). Since so many people think that New Orleans is such a disaster and should be wiped off the map. The government built this outlet from the Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi River as a "short cut" to the river. Ever since this outlet was built it has been a disaster for New Orleans and St Bernard Parish. The main reason New Orleans flooded for Hurricanes Katrina and 40 years previously Hurricane Betsy was mostly this outlet. It funnels the water from the Gulf into the lakes and river. That is one reason the levees broke besides the fact the Corp of Engineers didn''t exactly do much research on the soil conditions they were working on. Only just within the last year has the Corps finally agree to start damming this outlet. Once this is done New Orleans will be more protected from hurricane surges.
I believe if it weren''t for the MrGO New Orleans wouldn''t have flooded hardly at all. I''m not sure whose idea it was to build this outlet but it sure was a stinker.

[kennergirl]

The pumps New Orleans have were large wooden ones that are over 100 years old. They work if you don''t get more than 1" of rain per hour. Anywhere would flood if it rains more than that duh! For 20+ years the state had pleaded with the government to build sufficient levees. It was always shot down because "it wasn''t cost effective". Politicians from all over the country complained that spending that much on one area was ridiculous. The barrier islands that once protected the city and southern coast are gone completely now because "it wasn''t important". The costs of Katrina quadrupled(at least) what the proper repairs would have cost. So who is the idiot now?
When Katrina came and the oil and petroleum companies couldn''t work because the road was completely gone. What happened? The price of gas went up overnight. I personally was stranded for 3 weeks out of town with two young children and had no idea what was going on with my home. The confusion was staggering. I hope that no one here ever has to go through that. Trying to explain to your kids that you don''t know if you''ll ever go home again. The insurance companies try to take advantage of individuals in dire straits (and believe me allot of people here did have insurance). It''s easy for people to comment about things they themselves have not experienced. Walk a mile in my shoes.

[badmofojim]

This was an unusual amount of rain, that the pumps couldn''''t keep up with, which tells me New Orleans needs a better pumping system to deal with this. I''''ve lived in New Orleans for over 30 years now, and this kind of thing happens every few years. Once the rain stops, the water drains quickly.

To those who say we shouldn''''t live below sea level, tell that to the Netherlands, which is mostly at or below sea level, let they have succeeded in preventing flooding. There was lots of flooding in the mid-west this past summer, should those people all move away too? There is no part of the country that is immune to all natural disasters. Should everyone in California move away due to the danger of earthquakes and forest fires?


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Posted by nolalou at 02:07 PM : Oct 23, 2007
+ report abuse

("I''''ve lived in New Orleans for over 30 years now, and this kind of thing happens every few years.")

And over those 30 years you lived there they havent figrued out, "Hmm the pumps suck, we need better ones"?

[nolalou]

This was an unusual amount of rain, that the pumps couldn''t keep up with, which tells me New Orleans needs a better pumping system to deal with this. I''ve lived in New Orleans for over 30 years now, and this kind of thing happens every few years. Once the rain stops, the water drains quickly.

To those who say we shouldn''t live below sea level, tell that to the Netherlands, which is mostly at or below sea level, let they have succeeded in preventing flooding. There was lots of flooding in the mid-west this past summer, should those people all move away too? There is no part of the country that is immune to all natural disasters. Should everyone in California move away due to the danger of earthquakes and forest fires?

[kennergirl]

It''s good to see that not only are so called "idiots" living in New Orleans they seem to be thriving here. Reading some of the previous posts it always seems like the biggest idiots are the first ones to be calling other people "idiot". It doesn''t always flood here. Just as much as it there''s not always forest fires in CA and tornadoes in the Midwest. By the way, the French Quarter (which is where NO started from) was built next to the Mississippi River which is the highest point. Do you realize how important this "so called marshland" is? The Port of New Orleans exports 1/3 of the country''s grain alone. The petroleum field is tremendous here also. If Southern Louisiana wasn''t here I bet you''d love paying $6 a gallon for gas and probably at least double for food and other products. But idiots like you don''t see the tree from the forest.

[scoliosuxs]

Any of you out there who have comments about New Orleans do you realize that most of your oil and other products come from the ports in South LA. Port Fouchon on the coast for example. Your comments about living below sea level- well the Corp of Engineers assured New Orleans the levees were safe. How safe are the levees in your town? Corps telling you they are safe also. Look out GA. you''ll be out of water in two months. You either love New Orleans or hate it. Personally I wouldn''t step foot down there. But it is a national treasure. The French Quarter is above sea level and did not flood during Katrina or Rita. New Orleans residents are nothing if not resilient. The city will be back and better than ever.

[name_verify]

The negro experiment in democracy has failed.

Stand down "chocolate city" mayor Nagin.

Stand down.

[bm6005]

The funniest part of this is that engineers told the founder of N.O. in the early 1700''s not to build there because it was below sea level at times. Typical politician went ahead anyway with a stupid plan!