public safety

Threat of heavy rain from Tropical Storm Harvey continues, New Orleans officials say

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While New Orleans was spared the worst of Hurricane Harvey’s possible impacts over the weekend, the meandering tropical storm could still bring a significant amount of rain to the city over the coming week, New Orleans officials said. “Heavy rainfall remains possible through next Sunday with chances of localized flooding occurring,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s office said Sunday afternoon. “The current forecast indicates 4 to 10 inches of rain in New Orleans through next Sunday, with some local amounts higher due to potential rain bands. Higher winds should also be anticipated in these rain bands.” The storm’s center is currently on a path to re-enter the Gulf, drifting slowly northeast and strengthening slightly before making a second landfall on Wednesday between Houston and Beaumont, Texas.

weather

Hurricane Harvey effects begin to arrive on Texas coast; rainy remnants may drift toward Louisiana

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The effects of Hurricane Harvey are beginning to be felt along the Southern coast of Texas on Friday morning, but the National Hurricane Center predicts the system to slowly drift northeast back towards Louisiana into next week, bringing rainfall that could once again test New Orleans’ beleagured pumps. Harvey should draw near to the coast near Corpus Christi, Texas, by Friday evening, according to the 10 a.m. forecast from the National Hurricane Center. Its path will continue northwest into Texas through Sunday, at which time the models suggest it could bend back out toward the Gulf of Mexico again and travel up the Texas coast toward Houston and Galveston, retaining tropical-storm strength even through Wednesday. New Orleans city officials and a National Weather Service meteorologist are expected to give an update on expected effects for New Orleans at 2 p.m. Friday.

public safety

Tropical Storm Harvey could bring heavy weekend rain, flooding to New Orleans

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After strengthening overnight, Tropical Storm Harvey is expected to make landfall on the Texas coast on Friday, bringing the potential for heavy rain over New Orleans and more flooding starting this weekend, officials said. Current forecasts by the National Hurricane Center show Harvey continuing to gain strength into a hurricane as it heads toward the Corpus Christi area of south Texas, making landfall overnight Friday. The system is then expected to hover over the area and slowly drift toward Louisiana until as late as Tuesday, producing uncertain patterns of rain bands that could also dump several inches of rain to New Orleans. “While it is still very uncertain to the National Weather Service, the latest forecasts show Harvey strengthening by Friday and producing heavy rainfall and potential localized flooding in New Orleans beginning Saturday through mid-week,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a news conference Thursday morning. “Our models will likely change as the system draws closer — they remind us about this every other paragraph.

public safety

With backup power restored, 17 pumps still need emergency repairs, Mayor Landrieu says

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Although the fire-damaged backup power system to the city’s pumps has now been repaired, the city has identified 17 of its 120 pumps that are out of service and need emergency repairs, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said Saturday morning. The Sewerage & Water Board has “two immediate major issues,” Landrieu said in a news conference Saturday morning — the power system and the pumps themselves. After a small fire Wednesday night at a turbine that provides backup electricity to the pump system, the power system was the primary focus. The turbine that caught fire has been repaired and is back in service, Landrieu said. Two others that were previously down remain under repair and are expected to be restored in the coming months, while a fourth turbine remains out for long-term repairs.

city government

Repairs to pump system completed successfully, city still at “some risk,” Landrieu says

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The turbine powering the city’s pumping system that caught fire Wednesday evening has been repaired successfully, but that only restores the city’s pumping capacity to the levels prior to last weekend’s flooding, leaving New Orleans at “some risk,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced Friday morning. Wednesday’s fire was a small one that damaged the control panel of a turbine that provides backup power to the pumping system, Landrieu said. The blaze was not large enough to require the response of the Fire Department and was able to be extinguished by Sewerage & Water Board employees, but it left the turbine inoperable — just like the others that had already broken previously, Landrieu said. With the turbine control panel repaired, it is slowly being brought back online and tested, and performing “well,” Landrieu said. Its return to service, however, leaves the city with only as much pumping capacity as it had last weekend, when Mid-City suffered heavy flooding from a sudden downpour.

city government

City warns of flood risk with ‘diminished’ pumping capacity and more rain expected; schools closed through Friday

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An overnight fire damaged the power to the city’s pumping system, leading to an increased risk of flooding across the Eastbank of New Orleans as more thunderstorms approach the city Thursday afternoon, authorities said. All public schools in the city will be closed through Friday. “Obviously, this is a serious situation, but it is not something to be panicked about,” said Gov. John Bel Edwards late Thursday morning in a news conference with Mayor Mitch Landrieu. The fire Wednesday night damaged one of the turbines at the South Claiborne Avenue Sewerage & Water Board plant that powers many of the city’s pumping stations, reducing the city’s ability to drain stormwater from the streets. The turbine caught fire around 8 p.m. Wednesday, and he learned of it about 11:30 p.m., Landrieu said at a news conference around 2 a.m. Thursday.

Congress

Danae Columbus: Addressing climate impacts could become New Orleans’ equalizer

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This week’s tropical storm Cindy is just the latest example that the New Orleans region and the entire Gulf Coast must become better at living with water rather than merely struggling to defeat it. From powerful waves breaking over the sea walls on Lakeshore Drive and in Covington to flooding caused by storm surge in Venetian Isles, Myrtle Grove and Grand Isle, we must employ what the Dutch call “inventive urbanism” to make our towns and cities more resilient. Though President Trump suggests climate change is not a reality, residents along America’s coasts probably don’t agree. More cities and states are paying attention to the lessons from Hurricane Katrina and superstorm Sandy. Storm surge warnings are becoming commonplace.

business

Freret businesses announce flood drive for pets, babies

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Businesses and organizations on Freret Street have been individually responding to the Baton Rouge-area flooding for the past two weeks, and now they are uniting their efforts to focus on providing for families’ babies and pets that other relief efforts may not reach. As part of the “Freret Flood Drive,” donations of baby and pet supplies are being accepted at the Blooming Deals Thrift Shop at 4645 Freret, Neighborhood Housing Services at 4605 Freret, and the Junior League headquarters at 4319 Carondelet, as well as bins with the #FreretFloodDrive logo being placed along the Freret corridor at locations like High Hat Cafe, Dat Dog, Gasa Gasa and Freret Street Poboys. The items needed include:

Baby formula,
Diapers and pull-ups,
Dog and cat food (wet and dry), especially wet puppy food,
Dog collars and leashes
Collapsible crates

The Junior League of New Orleans has already partnered with companies like Bart’s Office Furniture Moving and Repairs and All My Sons Moving & Storage to send diapers and other baby needs to the flooded areas. “The average infant uses 10 to 12 diapers a day, and a one year old uses 6 to 8 diapers a day,” the Junior League noted on Facebook, so the 50,000 diapers they delivered in one shipment was only expected to help about 200 families for the next month. Michelle Ingram of Zeus’ Place has made nearly a dozen “heartbreaking” trips into the flood zone, she said, first rescuing 176 animals from flooded shelters and then another 80 strays from the streets that she is trying to reunite with their owners.

good works

Where to donate to help victims of Louisiana flooding

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Several local and national organizations have put a call out to request donations and volunteers in the wake of Louisiana’s historic flooding, which has so far killed six, according to the Weather Channel, and forced rescues of 20,000 more. Here are local and national places to give monetary donations and goods. Church Alley Coffee & The Good Shop, located at 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., is collecting toiletries, shoes, socks, cleaning supplies, baby wipes, formulas, car seats, fans, contractor garbage bags, gloves, and utility knives. Junior League of New Orleans will accept donations at their headquarters, located at 4319 Carondelet St., during normal business hours of 8:30 am to 5:30 pm, Monday through Friday. They request the following donations:

Diapers in all sizes.

events

Weather threat closes schools, but Buku fest and St. Patrick’s parade roll on

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The threat of dangerous conditions from the storm causing deep flooding around Louisiana on Friday morning may have closed most schools in New Orleans, but two major weekend events — the St. Patrick’s Day parade in the Irish Channel, and Buku festival in the Lower Garden District — are still scheduled to proceed despite the rain. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is scheduled to start at an updated time of 2 p.m. Saturday, March 12, said parade board member Jeffrey T. Delatte after meeting with city officials Friday morning. The parade will begin at Napoleon Avenue and Tchoupitoulas, and its route will take it up to Magazine Street, then down Magazine to Jackson Avenue, where it will return back to Tchoupitoulas and disband.