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Kitsune · 09-05-2005, 06:44 PM

One rumor is that the electrical supply was not installed to survive a storm.

My friend confirms this, saying many of the pumps that aren't running do not have backup power. He notes that most of them have underground power or generators that run on natural gas, but those that do have generators don't have enough generator power to run all the pumps at any given station. While watching CNN coverage, he was able to point out many of the pumps in the overhead footage and show that many of them are still running -- CNN even pointed out generator smoke and outflow from some of them pumping stations.

There were not enough pumps anyway.

More importantly, it doesn't matter when a levee breaks and the water that is pumped out comes right back in.

09-05-2005, 06:44 PM	#56
Kitsune still eats dirt Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 3,031	One rumor is that the electrical supply was not installed to survive a storm. My friend confirms this, saying many of the pumps that aren't running do not have backup power. He notes that most of them have underground power or generators that run on natural gas, but those that do have generators don't have enough generator power to run all the pumps at any given station. While watching CNN coverage, he was able to point out many of the pumps in the overhead footage and show that many of them are still running -- CNN even pointed out generator smoke and outflow from some of them pumping stations. There were not enough pumps anyway. More importantly, it doesn't matter when a levee breaks and the water that is pumped out comes right back in.