90% of NOLA pumps operational

The man in charge of the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board says he's feeling good, all things considered, as Hurricane Francine sets up for landfall later today.

The agency responsible for pumping out the rainwater reports it can make 70 megawatts of power. That's 26 megawatts more than what they would need at full capacity. Ninety out of 99 drainage pumps are fully operational.

On a scale of one to ten, in terms of confident, Sewerage & Water Board Executive Director Ghassan Korban says he's about an eight.

"I'm fairly confident," he told WWL's Tommy Tucker. "The team sounds very confident. They've been preparing. They continue to tweak, so we're really feeling very good about our position."

Korban's silver lining is that Francine is gaining forward speed and is not expected to set up over the area and dump 12 or more inches of rain.

"What we're hearing is that we're going to have an intense rain on the front end of it in the evening, anywhere from four to six (inches), anywhere as high as eight," said Korban.

"The worst storms are the ones that hover over you and dump ten to 12 inches of rain," Korban said.