THE RIVERGATE chapter 5 note 2

On 11 December 1996, Henry G. Hellmuth, who was the Field Engineer for Chrysler Airtemp on the Rivergate construction job, was interviewed. The following is a transcription of this audio taped interview.

	How and when were you first associated with the Rivergate construction?
	My first association with this job was sometime early in 1965. This is when I first heard that Chrysler Airtemp, who I was employed by, had gotten the contract to supply the air conditioning compressors that were to be installed on this job. Sometime prior to September 1965, these machines were delivered to New Orleans. I was called and told that they were going to be put in the basement area. The basement area had to be left open because the first floor was going to be poured on top of it; it was going to be sealed off. We had to install the machines that early so we didn't have to break a hole in the wall; we could drop them in. I was there to witness the moving of the equipment from the trailer trucks down into the basement area. There were four separate pieces to each machine -- condenser, chiller bundle, compressor, and the control cabinets -- which were laid down on the floor level. Hurricane Betsy came along in September.
	That was the 9th of September 1965.
	Sometime immediately after Betsy, the contractor called my office and, in turn, told me to go down and look at the equipment. When I arrived, what area of the first floor that was finished you could walk on, but when you got to the area where the equipment room was going to be, it was still open to the atmosphere. The only thing that you could see were the tops of the compressors.
	For reasons of scale and visualization how tall was the compressor?
	In height it was roughly seven feet tall, from floor level to the top of the compressor. The chiller bundle and condenser had not been mounted yet; as I recollect, they were still separated and on the floor. They would have only been 4' or 4-1/2' tall, separately. When they were mounted, they would have been 9' or 10' tall. But they were not mounted yet.
	They probably were not even visible at that time.
	No they weren't. As I told the contractor and engineer, I was not overly concerned about the chiller bundle, or the condenser, or the compressor because each one of those items had been sealed prior to shipment with flanges on the openings and gaskets. The control cabinets were not visible at that time either; I told them before, I wouldn't make any statement. I would have to have a closer inspection because these were going to be electric pneumatic panels. At this point I wrote a report to my company.
	Hurricane Betsy was one of the most vicious storms ever to visit the New Orleans area, and probably in recent memory, comparable to the 1947 storm in terms of loss of life and property. The 1947 storm occurred before storms were named, but it was a horrible storm. Betsy flooded areas all around the City of New Orleans, and citizens were in great peril not only for their property but their lives as well. Buildings blew down. People had to run for their lives. The Rivergate was not spared as most of it was without any roof at all. Water came in the building, and it just stayed. There was no way for it to drain off.
	New Orleans proper is below sea level. These excavations were at least ten to fifteen feet below normal ground level. After the area was pumped out and I could get in and make an inspection, I told the contractor and engineers that I would recommend to my company that they condemn the control panels because the cost of renovating and bringing them back up, checking and testing would be prohibitive. It would probably be better to purchase new equipment. And that's what was decided by the powers that be. After the new control cabinets were in, we mounted the equipment and checked it out, and got it in operating condition. As for the chiller bundles, condensers, and compressors, there was no damage to them from Betsy. The only thing that was damaged was the control cabinets.
	In connection with this, the air conditioning rooms were adjacent to the never-used tunnel that was supposed to be a link in a riverfront expressway. This tunnel is about 60' wide, 750' long, and the ceiling height is at least 30'. The floor of the tunnel was considerably below the floor of the room in which the air conditioning machinery was located. The air conditioning machinery was just across the wall from a huge reservoir of water like a giant abandoned quarry filled with water. It must have been an appalling sight to go there and see one's brand new equipment not even installed, certainly not activated, part of it totally wrecked.
	It was. The walls had been erected. There was just water through that whole area. The parking garage which was immediately outside was flooded, also the tunnel and equipment room. In the equipment room proper there had to be at least six feet of water.
	There was no way for this water to drain off. It all had to be pumped out.
	It had to be pumped out externally because none of the pumping equipment which would have been installed later was operable or even installed at that time. But all of this equipment had to be put in place prior to sealing that area up. Otherwise they would have had to leave a whole section of wall out. I doubt if they would have been able to get some of that equipment in because the floor to ceiling [space] in the parking garage I don't think was adequate to move that equipment through. They had to put it in from the top prior to pouring the first floor on top.
	This brings us to another avenue of inquiry. When Rivergate was demolished, it was demolished down to the first floor of the Rivergate. Is that equipment still in place?
	I've never been back. I really don't know. I think they put all new equipment in. The old equipment would have had to be cut up and hauled out in pieces.
	None of us saw that. It might be interesting to have a look sometimes. Thank you for recalling these interesting and pertinent facts for us (Hellmuth 1996).