May 8th 1995 Louisiana Flood
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The May 8th 1995 New Orleans Flood struck the New Orleans metropolitan area, shutting down the city for two days. It was a two-event phenomenon. Areas south of the lake began receiving tremendous amounts of rain at approximately 5:30 p.m. on May 7th, continuing into the early morning hours of May 8th. The flooding began on the Southshore, Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish, including the cities of New Orleans, Metairie, Kenner, River Ridge, and Harahan, on May 8. During a short period of twelve hours, some areas received twenty inches of rainfall. The next day, the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain, including Slidell, Covington, etc. received similar amounts of rain and flooding.
Some have compared this to the great November 1979 Louisiana Flood, or the more recent November 7 - 8 1989 Louisiana Flood, though the May 8th Flood was more extensive and costlier than both combined. It was the worst flooding the city had experienced between hurricanes Betsy in 1965 and Katrina in 2005. Perhaps the only comparable flood caused by rain alone was the Good Friday 1927 flood. (Rain also caused significant street flooding in New Orleans on May 3, 1978.)
Six people died as a result of the flooding. The city of New Orleans suffered $360 million in damages, and the damage of the surrounding areas put that total above $1 billion. Some 56,000 homes were damaged in 12 Parishes. Thousands of cars were flooded. 14,600 homes and apartments were flooded in Jefferson Parish.
The cause of the massive rain fall totals was a stalled out frontal system from the northwest. It produced a train effect, in which rain and/or thunderstorms continued to form over the same area. Pumping stations were overwhelmed and could not pump out the water into Lake Pontchartrain. The pumping stations are only rated to pump one inch per hour maximum.
[edit] Mitigation work prompted by the flooding
New pumping stations were built and canals were expanded to prevent further catastrophic rainfall floods. Some politicians began to push for pumping rain waters directly into the Mississippi River, but environmental groups argued against this plan. The idea has since been raised in brainstorming for ideas in how to prevent flooding in New Orleans post Katrina.
The flood prompted expansions and improvements of the city's drainage and pumping system, especially in the worst hit portions of the city, including improvements to the underground canals under Napoleon and Claiborne Avenues in Broadmoor and other SELA projects to improve drainage in Hollygrove connected to the 17th St. Canal.
