New Orleans council presses Entergy, SWBNO after Arthur outage

New Orleans City Council members spent June 30 pressing Entergy and the Sewerage and Water Board for a simple answer: why did the drainage system lose power during Tropical Storm Arthur, and who is responsible for making sure it does not happen again?

The hearing followed reports that drainage pumps briefly lost power during the storm. City officials said SWBNO’s 25-Hz system was interrupted for about an hour before service was restored. The city said drainage, water, and sewerage systems were back to normal, but the cause was still under investigation.

Why council members were frustrated

Councilmember Jason Hughes said the public was getting technical explanations instead of direct ones. Council President J.P. Morrell said residents should not have to work through jargon to learn whether the problem came from Entergy, SWBNO, or an equipment setting that was not calibrated correctly.

That frustration matters because drainage is one of the city’s most basic services. In New Orleans, even a short interruption can affect street flooding, business operations, commutes, and neighborhood confidence during heavy rain.

The power complex at the center of the dispute

SWBNO says its Power Complex was built to make the system more reliable by converting Entergy’s 60-Hz electricity into the older 25-Hz power used by many of the city’s pumps. The project also includes backup turbine generators and older equipment intended to provide another layer of protection if the grid goes down.

That is why the outage drew so much attention. The complex was meant to reduce risk, not become another weak point in a city that depends on pumping to keep water moving out of low-lying neighborhoods. Local reporting said the system tripped during a voltage drop as the remnants of Arthur moved through the area, and that the exact backup response was not immediately clear.

Entergy and SWBNO have not publicly assigned fault. Officials have said they are still working through the details, and SWBNO said it would continue updating the public as the investigation moves forward.

What to watch next

The key question now is whether investigators can identify the failure point and fix it before the next heavy-rain event. Residents, business owners, and commuters have a direct stake in the answer: drainage reliability affects flood risk, service outages, and trust in the city’s storm readiness.

For now, the June 30 hearing made one thing clear. Council members want fewer explanations and more accountability.

Sources

• WWL: Councilmembers press Entergy and SWBNO for answers after Arthur
• City of New Orleans severe weather update
• SWBNO press release: power issue affected drainage and potable water pumps
• WVUE Fox 8: New $280M drainage power complex fails again as Arthur hit New Orleans