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Originally Posted by Kitsune
If the pumps were not running, it has nothing to do with them being unmanned or "overheating", according to my friend currently staying with me who lives in NO and works on the pumps. It is most likely a power issue, more than anything.
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Kitsune's post is also what I had been hearing from other sources. But I did not respond. I did not have sufficient supporting information to post a reply.
One rumor is that the electrical supply was not installed to survive a storm. Since the Corp of Engineers was so cost controlled, their 'cost controlled' design was forced to fall back on a backup system - local generators. However I also heard funds had not been provided to maintain those generators. Some did not function.
These are rumors which is why I did not post them. What I have posted here is rumors to demonstrate what should not be posted as fact until better information is obtained.
Meanwhile, it does not matter. There were not enough pumps anyway. In a previous storm of only 5 inches rain, the pumps could not keep up. No way would pumps handle rain from a category 4 hurricane and some small levee breaches.