Feds Confirm Fears of New Orleans Flooding
    By Cain Burdeau
    The Associated Press

    Thursday 27 July 2006

    New data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirms fears that rain from hurricanes and tropical storms could flood some neighborhoods with up to 5 feet of water when new floodgates are closed at the mouths of three major drainage canals.

    The floodgates are designed to prevent storm surges from Lake Pontchartrain from backing up into the canals, preventing the surge flooding that inundated most of the city during Hurricane Katrina. But the floodgates also would prevent rainfall from draining through canals into the lake.

    The data released Wednesday shows 9 inches of rain in six hours - which happened during Katrina - could leave some neighborhoods under 1 to 5 feet of water. That's less than the storm surge that topped houses last August, but it could still flood some homes and endanger the city's recovery, said U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who requested the data.

    When plans to install the floodgates were announced in January, Corps officials acknowledged the possibility of flooding caused by heavy rains, but never said how bad it could be.

    It is unlikely the floodgates will be used this year, said Dan Hitchings, a Corps official overseeing the repair work on New Orleans' levees. The gates would be closed if a 5-foot storm surge threatened the city, which has happened only three times since 1959, the Corps said.

    The flooding problem is complicated by the city's diminished system of drainage pumps. Some pumps are still under repair after Katrina; others need to be positioned to move water out of canals and over closed floodgates.

    Vitter said the Corps should have put more emphasis on pumps, saying the "delay threatens to re-flood our metro area and kill our recovery."

    The Corps says it will take longer to significantly increase pumping at key canals. At the 17th Street Canal, the Corps said pumps can expel water at a rate of about 1,400 cubic feet per second - a tenth of the normal rate. The Corps expects to quadruple that rate by September and pump 7,300 cubic feet per second by June.

    On the London Avenue Canal, pumps could run at a rate of 2,800 cubic feet per second, and might be 4,800 cubic feet per second in June. That still would fall short of the normal 8,000 cubic feet per second.

    --------

    Associated Press writer Brett Martel contributed to this story.