NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District Commander Col. Edward R. Fleming ordered the London Avenue Canal gates closed at 4:00 today as a result of water reaching the operational trigger of 2.5 feet and rising.
The gates take about 50 minutes to close and, once closed, the Corps can begin pumping water from the canal into the lake.
“The interim control structures along the lakefront have significantly reduced the risk of flooding from hurricanes,” said Col. Fleming. “The Corps continually rehearses the operation of the structures and we are confident that they will continue to perform as designed, just as they did during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008.”
A three person team located at the structure is responsible for operating the gates and pumps from the safe room.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) equipment enables our emergency operations center to remotely monitor and operate the system as a redundancy in our operation plan, should the need arise.
The Corps’ pumps at London Avenue have a maximum combined capacity of 5,200 cubic feet per second at the London Ave. Canal.
We work closely with the Sewerage & Water Board to maximize their drainage capacity while ensuring public safety.
Release no. 12-046