Replacement Pumps Don’t Exist

Efforts to drain New Orleans hit another snag Friday as the Army Corps of Engineers discovered that it could not buy new pumps to replace those damaged by the flooding.

Massive pumps capable of draining the city like those that have been keeping New Orleans dry for decades are no longer made and would have to be specially ordered, a process that would take too long, said Col. Richard Wagenaar, the senior corps official in New Orleans.

Instead, repair crews will have to dry out the existing pumps, which could take up to a week, before repairing them with replacement motors and parts and begin pumping water back into Lake Pontchartrain. The repair job could prolong efforts to drain the city, about 80% of which is submerged.

“These pumps are so big, you can’t buy them off the shelf. You have to make them, and we don’t have time for that,” said Wagenaar, who spent about an hour Friday escorting President Bush around the levee damage at the 17th Street Canal.

The city, much of which is below sea level, relies on a network of 22 pumps to keep water out. Army engineers now believe eight pumps are underwater.

The latest wrinkle illustrated the enormous complexity of draining the city, which for more than 200 years had gradually built up an elaborate system to keep itself dry.

Even with the setback, Wagenaar said, the city could be drained in three to six months, mainly because engineers may finally be able to get to the largest pump station, at the end of the 17th Street Canal, as early as today.

A survey by helicopter Friday showed that railroad tracks were now above water and could provide access to the pump. It will take an additional three or four days for the Army to set up diesel generators to power the pump.

But other submerged pump stations will have to wait until a portion of the city is drained, which could take several more weeks. The Army needs to patch up two major levees that were torn open by the hurricane before it can begin notching holes in undamaged levees to let the water out.

On Friday, bulldozers filled about 25 feet of the 300-foot gap in the levee at the 17th Street Canal as military helicopters dumped 100 sandbags, some weighing as much as 3 tons, to raise the depth of the gap from about 7 feet to 3 feet.

Wagenaar said he hoped to patch the 17th Street Canal levee by today and the levee at the London Avenue Canal by next week.

“Our plans are changing every day,” Wagenaar said.