With Tropical Storm Lee spent, lake floodgates opened

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 6 (UPI) -- The floodgates on Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans were opened Tuesday after Tropical Storm Lee's rains subsided, officials said.

The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the London Avenue Canal floodgates at 7 a.m. The gates had been closed since 4:30 p.m. Friday when the canal's water reached 2.5 feet and rising.

The newspaper said while the floodgates were closed 20 temporary pumps in the floodgate structure poured an average of 5,200 cubic feet of water per second from the canal into the lake. Rainwater from Sewerage & Water Board pump stations also filled the canal.

The corps ordered the gates opened -- about a 50-minute procedure -- when lake water dropped below 2.5 feet and was expected to stay below that.

Heavy rainfall and flooding from Lee forced the closing of schools in Birmingham, Ala., Tuesday, school officials said.

The auditorium of Pinson Valley High School collapsed Monday night after up to 5 feet of rain water collected in the building, The Birmingham News reported.

Schools spokeswoman Nez Calhoun said so one was injured in the collapse.

More than 200,000 power outages were reported in Alabama Monday night, including 162,000 in the Birmingham area alone, Alabama Power said.

In New Orleans, Lee prompted some officials to renew complaints against the corps concerning levee repair since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, The Times-Picayune reported.

The breach of a low "back" levee during Lee resulted in the flooding of the Myrtle Grove area after water pushed in from Barataria Bay.

Late Monday, parish workers were trying to decide whether to dig two cuts in the levee to allow floodwaters to drain.

At the time, Lee's winds had shifted and were pushing water back out of Barataria Bay into the Gulf of Mexico.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser angrily denounced the corps' failure to rebuild a non-federal levee as Congress directed.

"It was supposed to protect us from a 50-year storm," Nungesser said. He said a rebuilt levee would have been higher than needed to fight Lee's surge.