NOLa Fail

New Orleans, never a shining star city on a hill, has been having more than it's usual share of problems lately. The ferry from Canal Street to Algiers has been out of service for a year because they cannot get USCG inspections on the new ferries. It was so bad that the Coast Guard refused to provide a punch list, instead telling them to go read the regulations.

There have been almost weekly boil water advisories as water mains fail. A recent 30" water main failure flooded streets and cars.

There was a mass shooting over Thanksgiving weekend when 10 people were shot (nobody killed ,luckily) on Canal Street. I bet you didn't hear about it on the national news because that's Bayou Classic Weekend, the football game between two rival African American universities. (The shooters were later arrested over in St. Mary Parish)

To add to the Sewerage and Water Board problems, they blew up a turbine at their main water treating plant. The concussion rattled the neighborhood and injured two employees. Details have not been forthcoming so I'm not sure if it was a natural gas turbine or one of the old (circa 1930) steam turbines. (The SWB generates their own power as most of their pumps operate on a different frequency from the Entergy grid)

And finally, the city has had to shut down their computer system due to a cyber attack.

PS: This morning the news reported an explosion and car fire in the French Quarter about 1 block from Bourbon Street. Three manhole covers were blown off and the street around the manholes was buckled.The cause was not immediately understood but now they are saying that the cause was an accumulation of methane gas from human waste. This is troubling for a couple of reasons. First, it means that the sewer and the drainage system are connected which they are not supposed to be. Second, it means that the drainage system is blocked. UPDATE - Sewage got into an Entergy electrical vault and an arc ignited the methane. Source of sewage is not known.