Hurricane Katrina Aftermath (and other stuff I find interesting)

6:36 P.M. - WWL-TV: The underpass at the train trestle near the Orleans/Jefferson line is under water due to rain - not a levee breach.

Friday, 6:33 p.m. Nola.com With Hurricane Rita sideswiping the New Orleans area on Friday, rainwater welled up once again in the low spot where Interstate 10 dips under the railroad bridge near the Orleans/Jefferson parish line. The build-up was expected, according to Marcia St. Martin, executive director of the Sewerage & Water Board, because the newly installed pumps that drain the dip have been turned off to reduce stress on the damaged 17th Street Canal.The pumps drain a 562-acre swath that includes adjacent cemeteries and parts of City Park as well as a stretch of the interstate. Ordinarily they discharge water into the drainage canal. The walled waterway can not be used now that it has been gated shut to bar storm surges from Lake Pontchartrain. Plans for the new pumping station were implemented after cars and drivers drowned in the flooded dip during Tropical Storm Isidore in 2002