Page 4 - Pump System News Today

Case, one thing to tell from the live shot is, just sheets and sheets of water, and we have been watching this come down for hours, the new orleans is a bowl. as they developed there they drained a lot of wetlands they settled, the earth settled there, if you will, bringing city below sea level, and the levee system protects it the levee system has been fortified since katrina. the authorities here expresses confidence in the levee system that is now being tested to a great extent. but that leve...

Is the damage caused a load imbalance. and that caused a catastrophic failure of the entire power grid for new orleans. what i can tell you from being out here. it was quite an abundance of rain. more than i have seen in other hurricanes covering these things in the past. the wind was stiff, jaw wards of 80 miles per hour. but what was remarkable is sheets and sheets of rain that came through. particularly significant for new orleans, most of new orleans is like a bowl. its below sea level. they...

-- it was dry, i was wondering now, tobin talked about the fact that pump system in new orleans it can eradicate an inch of water per hour, the rain is coming down faster. you walk around robert, are you seeing localized flooding? what are you seeing water-wise. reporter: 45 minutes ago when we left mississippi river to come here, probably almost a mile we drove back in, i started to see, main drag in downtown was water coming up about 4 inches, here in the quarter, depends on where you are, rig...

Water are key because new orleans is below sea level. the problem with it is we have so much rain with the sheets and sheets of rain thats anticipated that this amount of rain greater than 3 inches an hour is going to overwhelm the pump system. but it stand to reason that you have got significant flooding in new orleans despite the protection from the levee system. unable to stop the rain water from coming in. outside of the levee system we know the flooding has been significant. where the storm...

Gets or the top there is another measure that can stop that water from coming into new orleans. they are confident as far as tidal surges or storm surges. what they are not confident about is the rain, that its not overloading the pump system. we have -- -- we know two didnt parishes in which the levees were over the top. one is jean lafite. but its still too rough and too dark. ashley: the people on that boat,

Tested there is confidence with the design and investment into the levees system but all of this water coming in new orleans is below sea level so when it comes in it stays they rely on the pump system to get it out but now they are overwhelmed by the volume of water coming in. they can handle little less than 1 inch per hour what was predicted is 3 inches per hour and were certainly seeing a great deal of volume coming in and this really seems to be the peak of the intensity of wind and water a...

As you know new orleans is a bowl, if you will, it is relying on the pump system when water comes street down like this to get water out. the pumps are working. a lot of pumps, some reports that three had failed, that means 96 pumps are still working. those pumps are good to clear less than an inch of water an hour, right now were averaging about 3 inches of water. that is what was predicted. in terms of places where hurricane came ashore, you have major flooding, grand isle, houma. and we know ...

With that particular wall. cameras looking down the street looking at the damage you have a levee system and the pump system allied of investment and smart people designing this intending to withstand a 100 year storm or a 1 percent chance to be hit with that storm there is a lot of confidence in the levee system from what we heard from public officials. but now it is getting its first major test. jon: teefifteen out there in the thick of it thank you. mississippi is feeling the impact of the st...

You can look at some of these traffic lights in the intersection. wow, this is a whopper of a gust coming through. you can see how these traffic lights are getting a workout. the palm trees up and down canal street here, id be very surprised if we get through this and dont see some of the palm trees snap off. one of the things my crew and i have been keeping an eye on throughout this process, theres a billboard up over my right shoulder here, and you can see that billboard, its been rattling aro...

This point. but mostly a lot of water coming in right now. the reports of damage was a membrane of the roof. we know the barge is now drifting up the river on its own, unmanned. and a lot of sporadic damage so with all of this water coming in right now, it stands to reason the pump system will be overwhelmed. you have to imagine there will be significant flooding in the crescent city before this is over. that the life-threatening flooding right now are the areas hit by the storm surge already cl...