New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board officials today corrected statements they made last week as parts of New Orleans flooded on Friday.
At a board meeting today, Sewerage and Water Board Director, Ghassan Korban says both human error and equipment failure contributed to the delay of pumps turning on as Gentilly and New Orleans East flooded.
On Friday SWB officials told news outlets that the pumps and drainage system is working but that the system was overwhelmed by the amount of rain that fell in one area over a short period of time.
However, Korban now confirms that the main pumps at Pump Station 4 in Gentilly failed to start for more than two hours during the flooding event.
“We had three pumps we couldn’t start and when we tried to start them, they tripped offline,” Korban told the board members. “And it was a lengthy process, it was about two hours of assessment before we were able to figure out what went on and we were able to turn them on.”
The three pumps that failed provided pumping drainage for about 85 percent of the drainage system for the Gentilly area.
