re: It’s storming in NOLA and Turbine 4 just shut down

It's not just the catch basins, it's the pipes from the catch basins as well. DPW is in charge of all stormwater pipes less than 30" (or 36", my memory is hazy). Subsidence has caused a lot of issues with those pipes. They're all busted up and run up and downhill in broken segments. There are many, many places where the catch basins are lower than the pipes they drain into. cleaning the catch basins only does so much. You see a lot of these issues in higher subsidence areas like Gentilly, Lakeview, and East.

We actually explored an idea to backflood the drainage system by raising canal water levels and/or pumping backwards. The theory was that the busted-up drainage pipes would help keep the soil constantly wet and lessen subsidence. A sort of gigantic drip irrigation system, if you will. We did a small-scale test on Canal St in Metairie. It was actually pretty successful in keeping groundwater levels high in the neighborhood, but mosquito control was an issue. We needed to find a better way to keep the water moving other than cycling the drawdown and back-flood cycles