News from New Orleans

Reprinted with permission from the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau

11:25 a.m. Monday September 1, 2008

(Updates posted at 7:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, 6:00 p.m., and 10:00 p.m., or more frequently if major news warrants

The city of New Orleans is well prepared for the wind and rain of Hurricane Gustav that we are currently experiencing. The evacuation of some 30,000 visitors to the city this 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.

TOOK WONDERFUL CARE OF OUR VISITORS:
Visitors were informed of all developments 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 are 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. 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 hit southern Louisiana. Significant rain and wind have preceded it and have begun in the downtown areas. We are closely watching the storm surge and the levels of rainfall that will occur. There has been minor overtopping of some canal walls but nothing serious at this point.

There should be expectations of 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 are 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.

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.

SEE YOU SOON!
Thank you for checking on New Orleans! Wish us good luck. We are ready. But we look forward mostly to geting 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.