New Orleans :: Tourism Updates
Business owners who had returned to the French Quarter and CBD over the weekend and residents who had begun moving back to Algiers Monday are now preparing to re-evacuate New Orleans as Hurricane Rita crosses the Gulf of Mexico. With winds reaching 135 mph, Hurricane Rita grew into a Category 4 storm Wednesday as it churned toward landfall later this week on the Gulf Coast. Many business owners are boarding up windows and preparing to leave.
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Business owners who had returned to the French Quarter and CBD over the weekend and residents who had begun moving back to Algiers Monday are now preparing to re-evacuate New Orleans as Hurricane Rita crosses the Gulf of Mexico. With winds reaching 135 mph, Hurricane Rita grew into a Category 4 storm Wednesday as it churned toward landfall later this week on the Gulf Coast. Many business owners are boarding up windows and preparing to leave.
Mandatory evacuations have already been ordered for New Orleans and Galveston, Texas, and Governor Blanco has declared a state of emergency in Louisiana. Mayor Nagin said he will begin enforcing the evacuation order 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.
About 10% of the city is still flooded, down from a high of about 80% after Katrina, and the water was expected to be pumped out by Sept. 30. But officials with the Army Corps of Engineers have said that the repairs to the levees breached by Katrina were not yet strong enough to prevent flooding in another hurricane. The Corps said New Orleans levees can only handle up to 6 inches of rain and a storm surge of 10 to 12 feet.
Monday evening in the French Quarter, businesses were getting up and running, and bars were serving cold beers to National Guardsmen and passers-by, as Mayor Nagin announced that he was suspending the re-opening of large portions of the city, including the Quarter. Nagin suspended the re-opening to err on the side of safety in light of the approach of another possible hurricane. He ordered residents who circumvented checkpoints and slipped back into the still officially closed parts of the city - including the Quarter, CBD, Garden District and Uptown - to leave immediately.
French Quarter business owners who began pouring back into the city Saturday as part of the city's previous re-entery plan continue their clean-up and re-opening plans, but are poised to evacuate again if an order is called as Tropical Storm Rita nears.
The Mayor had opened the Quarter and the CBD to business owners on Saturday, allowing those who evacuated to get back in, gather materials, begin clean-up and plan their return to business.
Across the area, restaurants, bars, retail shops and other businesses had begun the process of preparing to re-open. Entergy has reported that the French Quarter should have power restored by Sept. 23.
Some Quarter and CBD businesses were opening almost immediately, while others said they needed time to clean, repair and restock before they could serve a customer base that will gradually grow as residents begin to return. With Rita approaching, many business owners are now boarding up windows and preparing for possible flooding and winds.
Nagin had announced last week that residents and owners of businesses in key tourism areas and other areas least affected - including Algiers, the French Quarter and the Garden District - would be incrementally allowed back in to homes and businesses beginning today. Business owners were allowed back into the French Quarter and CBD beginning Saturday, and Algiers residents were allowed back in to that area beginning today. All re-entries have been suspended until further notice.
The tourism infrastructure is largely intact, and our industry will help the mayor lead the rebuilding of the city's economy. We will likely be ready to re-open before all basic city services are restored, so we will now focus on facilitating the reconstruction while housing the thousands of recovery workers that have entered the city.
We will then be ready for tourism to lead the rebound, as recovery workers complete their tasks and our service workers return to the city. Our more minor cosmetic repairs will occur simultaneously and will have the hospitality industry, renowned for its quality and excellence, in better condition than at any point in our history.
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.
NOMCVB President and CEO Stephen Perry will be frequently on the ground now in New Orleans, working with hotels to assist FEMA and its contractor, the Shaw Group – one of Louisiana's two Fortune 500 companies – in developing housing options in hotels for essential personnel.
NOMCVB Executive Vice President Kitty Ratcliffe is leading the hotel assessment team from her Dallas offices, along with New Orleans hotel directors of sales and marketing and the NOMCVB convention sales staff in place in Baton Rouge. The emphasis is getting hotels fully operational very soon and utilizing them to host FEMA managed work teams and essential personnel. This will enable hotels to facilitate renovations simultaneously and be ready for next year's tourism season, while participating in accelerating recovery.
The recovery progress on the ground has been substantial this week. The mood shift in the city toward optimism and a speedy recovery is clear and palpable.
Tremendous progress is being made at the Convention Center. Broadmoor Construction reports that roof repairs are moving ahead of schedule and will be largely stabilized this week. Environmental cleaning and remediation teams began work today. Comprehensive renovation of interior surfaces at the Center are now expected to be well ahead of preliminary estimates, as the Center is restored to a condition surpassing its previous appearance.
The historic character of the most important neighborhood in America has survived wonderfully. Its buildings have suffered far less wind and water damage than those in other parts of the city. The French Quarter is dry, and many parts of it amazingly show little evidence that a catastrophic hurricane has just passed. Hotels currently operating are doing so using self-contained water tanks and large-scale generators. Basic services, including electricity and water, are gradually returning.
