Additional News From New Orleans

7:24 p.m. Monday September 1, 2008

(Updates posted at 7:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, and 7:00 p.m. Monday or more frequently if major news warrants)Printed with Permission from the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The city of New Orleans proved to be exceptionally well prepared for the wind and rain of Hurricane Gustav which struck Monday morning. The evacuation of some 30,000 visitors to the city this past weekend in less than 24 hours went exceptionally well and almost flawlessly followed the emergency plan established after Hurricane Katrina. Only very minor logistical tweaking was necessary as the plan worked even better than hoped for.
PREPARED:
New Orleans is now the best prepared city in the world for a major disruptive event such as this. The federal, state and local governments, in stark contrast to the unexpected events of Katrina, coordinated seamlessly the positioning of supplies, emergency personnel, public safety officers and first responders.
The city is proud to not only be the nation’s leader in fun, food, music and major cultural and sporting events, but now to be the most sophisticated destination in the world in all levels of emergency planning, execution and visitor management.
MONDAY'S DEVELOPMENTS:
New Orleans fared extremely well Monday during the heavy winds and rain of Hurricane Gustav. In an unusual turn of events, the capital city of Baton Rouge seemed harder hit as were many coastal parishes and parts of Acadiana. Over one million Louisiana families are without power all across the state, but 50 % of New Orleans has power tonight. Though there was considerable loss of power, and minor flooding, the levees have held well with only minor overtopping in a couple of locations that will have limited duration effect. The thorough preparations paid off beautifully under real duress.

The French Quarter, Business District, and downtown fared well with most of the minor flooding, and tree and downed power line damage uptown and to the east and toward the lakefront. The next 24 hours will prove the final strength of the levee improvements on the canals protecting the East Bank of the city.

No significant damage to the hospitality infrastructure of New Orleans has been reported at this time and it is not anticipated that the storm will have any impact on the Fall convention and meetings calendar. Additional assessments of property and facilities will be made overnight and a report given on this site Tuesday morning.

A curfew is still in effect for the evening to continue the superb protection of the businesses and residences. The mayor is expected to announce on Tuesday when reisdents and business owners will be permitted to return to the city.

The reopening of hotels will depend on the mayor lifting the evacuation order of the city at his press conference on Tuesday. Then properties will make individual decisions as to when to reopen based on the return of staff and other variables. We will announce on this site when hotel reservation systems are reopened. In the meantime, please check with the individual property of your interest to check on existing reservations and to inquire about new reservations. Many hotels will reopen fairly quickly.

Information on the reopening of the city's large number of fine restaurants will also be posted.

TOOK WONDERFUL CARE OF OUR VISITORS:
Visitors were informed of all developments over the weekend and were encouraged to and provided the opportunity to depart a day early in advance of mandatory evacuation of the residents of the city. This was to ease their departure and make it as convenient as possible. Drive-in visitors were provided the same opportunities.
Additional transportation to Armstrong airport to supplement taxi and shuttle service was provided to ensure the easy flow of all visitors to the airport. The airlines added new sections and up-gauged equipment to ensure that all visitors were able to leave by the end of flight service at 6:00 p.m. Sunday. All operations at the airport have gone smoothly and all fly in visitors had departed by Sunday evening. The airport closed at that point and will remain closed until after the storm. Exact re-open times will be posted when that decision is made.
The only visitors remaining in the city after 6:00 p.m. Sunday were national and local media imbedded in a few select hotel properties. Hotels have now closed to the public and have fully secured and protected their facilities.
SAFE AND SECURED CITY:
A city-wide curfew from dusk to dawn has been set for the city for the duration of the storm and its immediate after effects. This will ensure the safety and protection of all local businesses and hotels, restaurants and other commercial properties. It will ensure that after the storm the city’s hospitality industry will be able to re-open relatively swiftly in fine condition.

The New Orleans Morial Convention Center and the Louisiana Superdome are well secured and protected by the National Guard and State Police and will not serve any role as evacuation centers or shelters. This will ensure that, immediately after the storm events, those facilities will be in superb shape and ready to serve our corporate and association meeting community and the myriad of sporting and other special events hosted in the Dome.

LEVEES AND FLOODING:
Hurricane Gustav has now passed through southern Louisiana. Significant rain and wind preceded it and buffeted the downtown areas. We are closely watching the storm surge and the levels of rainfall that occured. There has been minor overtopping of some canal walls but nothing serious at this point. Tuesday will tell the final tale.

We fully expected at least minor flooding in the city due to extensive rain. This is a New Orleans norm even during non-storm times. State and local officials were particularly concerned about flooding on the West Bank which has a less developed levee system than the East Bank where the French Quarter, Business District, SuperDome and Convention Center lie. A private levee has breached in Plaquemines Parish and affected homeowners there but is no threat to New Orleans as it is contained by a separate river levee.

Significant work has been accomplished on East Bank levee and canal improvements. However, the projects on the West Bank are only now under construction. This is important because the track of Gustav differs from Katrina in that it is farther west and thus more endangering to the West Bank. However initial reports are that the West Bank has fared even better than expected.

SEE YOU SOON!
Thank you for checking on New Orleans! Thank you for wishing us good luck. We were fully prepared and ready. But we look forward mostly to getting back to work shortly at the one thing we love more than any other....showing off the world's best food, music, museums, attractions and art scene of America's most historic, authentic, walkable city.