Living in New Orleans can be very fun, exciting, and different compared to living in other parts of the country. There are many activities people can do here, young or old. Just like how its famous gumbo is served, New Orleans is shaped like a geographic gumbo bowl. This part of the country is also very humid, which can create rain storms that bubble up in the gulf. These two ingredients do not mix like those of gumbo. When our city is shaped like this and it rains frequently, there is the potential of flooding. New Orleans has drains and pumps like other places, but they do not always work, which can cause a massive problem. These problems can further cause people to be without food and water, have a sanitary place as a bathroom, and unable to go home. The drains get clogged with debris and trash, and the pumps are either broken or not turned on by Sewage and Water Board. The number of pumps that are not actually doing their job is far too high. People can clean their own drains; however, the main issue involves the pumps, and there are two possible solutions that could help this situation.

There was a recent flood in the city about a month ago, and it caused problems to many people, including me. I was stuck in the downtown area for four hours, and unable to move our car. We were eventually rescued by a family member and had to abandon the car to walk through the water for ten blocks. This is not how the city of New Orleans should be publicizing itself, with its own citizens and even some tourists stuck in high flood waters for long periods of time. A solution to this problem would be to hold fundraisers to raise money to help fix the broken pumps. Another solution would be to create a petition signed by people who support this cause and to send it to the local government and the Sewage and Water Board. These two solutions are what the everyday citizen can do to help without having to be in a plumbing or engineering field.

The first solution, which is to hold a fundraiser to make money for the broken pumps to be fixed, can be fun and enjoyable, just like New Orleans. They can be at different venues around town, with activities and food, almost like a school fair. The money from the fundraiser can then be donated either straight to the Sewage and Water Board in hopes they would understand what it is specifically for, or it can be donated to a well-respected representative who also strongly believes in this same issue, as a more trustworthy route. This representative can then make sure the money goes to the right place, and the broken pumps can be repaired. The second solution, to create a petition, is something that everyone is welcome to sign. Volunteers can be recruited to go all around New Orleans with the petitions, and they can educate people about this problem. Then they would ask people to sign it. These volunteers would go places such as the following: CBD, Uptown, Lakeview, New Orleans East, and City Park. After they are done, they would return the petitions, and they would also either be sent directly to the local government or a trusted representative. After these steps have been taken, we would continue to speak our minds on the issue, and see the results. Since our city is below sea level, which that is a problem we cannot fix, we still might have slight flooding because of this. Although there might be the occasional one inch, it is still an upgrade compared to what New Orleans has gotten in the past. It would ameliorate people’s everyday lives during rain storms. When someone leaves a lot of their food left after they are done eating, it usually means they did not like it. New Orleans is known for its amazing gumbo that people cannot resist, so let us make our city an empty geographical gumbo bowl that is free of flooding and rain water.