New Orleans :: Tourism Updates
Approximately 10% of the city is still affected in some way by flood water, down dramatically from a post-Katrina high of 80%. Officials said Sunday that water is draining much faster than expected. But Tropical Storm Rita is advancing across the Gulf of Mexico as a category 5 hurricane and is expected to make landfall on Saturday somewhere between Port Mansfield, Tx., and Cameron, La.
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Approximately 10% of the city is still affected in some way by flood water, down dramatically from a post-Katrina high of 80%. Officials said Sunday that water is draining much faster than expected. But Tropical Storm Rita is advancing across the Gulf of Mexico as a category 5 hurricane and is expected to make landfall on Saturday somewhere between Port Mansfield, Tx., and Cameron, La. Officials with the Army Corps of Engineers said the repairs to the levees breached by Katrina are not yet strong enough to prevent flooding in another severe storm. The Corps said New Orleans levees can only handle up to 6 inches of rain and a storm surge of 10 to 12 feet.
Mayor Nagin suspended the reopening of large portions of the city Monday evening and ordered mandatory evacuation from New Orleans today.
In anticipation of another hurricane, the Army Corps of Engineers drove a massive metal barrier across the 17th Street Canal bed to prevent a storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain from swamping New Orleans again. Government engineers and private contractors also worked around the clock across New Orleans to repair the damage to the system of pumps, concrete floodwalls, earthen berms and canals that protect the city. In addition, the Corps had 800 giant sandbags weighing 6,000 to 15,000 pounds on hand just in case, and ordered 2,500 more to shore up low spots and plug any new breaches.
Officials said Sunday that water was draining much faster than expected. In fact, East New Orleans was expected to be dry by September 30, rather than the October 8 date earlier projected. Key tourism areas – including the French Quarter, CBD, Garden District and much of Uptown, and Algiers – suffered the least amount of flooding and are totally dry now. The Warehouse and Arts District and Convention Center Area are also completely dry.
Pumping the city free of water has gone ahead of schedule; water levels have been visibly dropping in many parts of town, and the city could be largely drained in three weeks. The Army Corps of Engineers announced that the primary flooded areas would be dry by September 30. More heavily flooded areas of New Orleans East should be dry by October 8, and Plaquemines Parish by October 18, some 40 days ahead of schedule.
Areas near City Hall that previously had three feet of water are now dry. Water along Carrollton Avenue Uptown have receded almost to the I-10 overpass, a three-foot reduction. Parts of New Orleans East have seen water reduced by five feet.
As the floodwater recedes in New Orleans, scientists are testing it and the mud it leaves behind. So far, results of the testing in New Orleans are encouraging, according to Jerry Fenner, who's leading a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team that is assessing the city's environmental health risks. He said that while considerable concern has focused on germs lurking in New Orleans' sewage-contaminated floodwaters, they won't survive long once the water is pumped away. While the hard data scientists need to gauge the long-term risks are still emerging, many experts are optimistic that most of New Orleans could be safely resettled in a few months.
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