City officials discovered the partially submerged vehicle during a Wednesday inspection of drainage infrastructure, officials with the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans said.
And it’s out! pic.twitter.com/03drNThNAM
— SWB New Orleans (@SWBNewOrleans) August 22, 2019
Video inspection of the drainage infrastructure was spurred after heavy rainfall caused flooding in the area and minor overtopping to the Lafitte Canal. The inspection of the canal will continue to a pumping station. The cost is expected to be $100,000, WWL reported.
Officials are not sure how long the vehicle had been in the canal but it had a permit sticker that expired in 2007.
"This is a direct reflection of this team's commitment to a new way of doing things," Ghassan Korban, executive director of the water board, said in a statement. "We saw an issue on July 10 and wasted no time in working to find the root of the problem and develop a solution. While we are committed to finding out what we don't know, conducting these types of inspections is extremely costly. The only way we can move forward with improving our infrastructure is if we do it together."
Today, we announced plans for the inspection of underground canals. After the July 10 rain event, where the Lafitte Canal experienced minor overtopping, we immediately began plans to identify any unseen issues.
— SWB New Orleans (@SWBNewOrleans) August 21, 2019
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