New Orleans is in a state of emergency as heavy rain and malfunctioning water-pumping system have left many neighborhoods flooded.

“Obviously this is a serious situation, but it’s not something to be panicked about,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said has he declared a state of emergency.

The Mayor also urged residents of the affected areas to prepare for another bout of heavy rain by moving vehicles to higher ground.

Residents were spotted clearing mud, sand, grass and other debris from the storm.

The federal government has allocated billions of dollars for maintenance of the city’s pumping system after a dastardly hurricane that left the city devastated in 2005, but the problems have remained.

New Orleans’ pumping system is engineered to move tons of water out of lower potions of the city.

“With great prayer and a lot of hard work, hopefully we’ll be okay,” the mayor retorted.

The Mayor said on Thursday that one of the system’s turbines which powers most of the pumping stations developed a fault. He said due to this fault, the system couldn’t drain water from the streets.

“It was an internal fire within the turbine itself, and it was a critical part,” he said

Great effort is currently being channeled at getting the system back to speed.