New Orleans braces for next wave of rain

City is still scrambling from last week’s floods with more possible

New Orleans residents look warily ahead to the prospect of more rain today even as the debris from last weekend’s flash flood still litter the sidewalks and the city’s pump system operates well below full power.

NEW ORLEANS — With debris from last weekend’s flash flood still piled up on sidewalks and their city under a state of emergency, New Orleans residents looked ahead warily on Friday to the prospect of more rain to tax the city’s malfunctioning pump system.

The city scrambled to repair fire-damaged equipment at a power plant and shore up its drainage system less than a week after a flash flood from torrential rain overwhelmed the city’s pumping system and inundated many neighborhoods.

Annie Hutchins says she’s “traumatized” every time she sees clouds in the sky since an Aug. 5 flood.

“It’s a little bit unnerving that we were told everything was working, and the next day the story was a little bit different, and then the next day the story was a lot different,” she said. “I don’t feel like I have a lot of reason to trust what I’m being told anymore.”

A control panel on one of two working turbines had been fixed by Friday morning, but the system remains well below full power, Mayor Mitch Landrieu said at a morning news conference. The turbine powers some of the city’s pumps.

“We remain at risk until additional turbines are back up,” Landrieu said, adding that he hopes that will happen by the end of the month. Still, he said, “Panic is not where we need to be right now.”

He also said a location was being set up Friday for residents to get sandbags should they want to take the extra precaution of sandbagging their homes.

Schools closed for the week, and the mayor urged residents to park their cars on high ground.

Gov. John Bel Edwards described his emergency declaration Thursday as precautionary.

New Orleans’ municipal pumping system is supposed to move water out of the low-lying city. Having the system crippled in August, the middle of hurricane season, could not come at a worse time for New Orleans.

But officials feared that even a common thunderstorm would test the system’s reduced capacity.

“With great prayer and a lot of hard work, hopefully we’ll be OK,” the mayor said.

Gerald Herbert / Associated Press Andrea Dube, right, and John Flemming fill sandbags Friday as a precaution for the potential of more flooding from storms in New Orleans. The city is under a state of emergency.