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As of 2017, the New Orleans pumping system - operated by the Sewerage and Water Board - can pump water out of the city at a rate of more than 45,000 cubic feet (1,300 m 3) per second. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The capacity is also frequently described as 1 inch (2.5 cm) in the first hour of rainfall followed by 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) per hour afterward. [ 2 ]
The average elevation of the city is currently between 1 and 2 feet (0.30 and 0.61 m) below sea level, with some portions of the city as high as 20 feet (6 m) at the base of the river levee in Uptown and others as low as 7 feet (2 m) below sea level in the farthest reaches of Eastern New Orleans.
The water level in the Canal at the time of failure was about 5 feet lower than the top of the I-wall, well below the design water level. The breach released storm-surge floodwaters that destroyed buildings, homes, and infrastructure, throughout all but the highest areas within the city. The initial breach expanded to a nearly 450-foot wide gap.
New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, along the high ground adjacent to the Mississippi River (about 17 feet (5.2 m) above sea level). The city struggled early on with rainfall drainage because of the topography of the region.
This is a list of places on land below mean sea level. Places artificially created such as tunnels, mines, basements, and dug holes, or places under water, or existing temporarily as a result of ebbing of sea tide etc., are not included. Places where seawater and rainwater is pumped away are included.
A forensic engineering team from the Louisiana State University, using sonar, showed that at one point near the 17th Street Canal breach, the piling extends just 10 feet (3.0 m) below sea level, 7 feet (2.1 m) shallower than the Corps of Engineers had maintained. "The Corps keeps saying the piles were 17 feet, but their own drawings show them ...
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On Monday, September 5, 2005, electrical power began to be restored to buildings in the central business district of New Orleans on a priority basis. [30] By Thursday, September 8, Entergy had restored 9 of 17 electricity generating units in the New Orleans area to service. Entergy's 1000 MW Waterford and Watson plants were still out of service ...