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Dear Friends of New Orleans,
New Orleans' culture is defined by perseverance. In the city's 300-year history, our way of life has survived not just storms, but wars, fires, epidemics, and more. Even as we mourn the loss of life and property caused by Hurricane Katrina, our fundamental spirit remains strong. We will rebuild our city, restoring it to a better New Orleans than ever before.
[http://www.neworleanscvb.com/]
Continue Message from Sandra S. Shilstone
September 22, 2005
According the the National Weather Service's 7 a.m. CST update, Category 5 Hurricane Rita was 490 miles southeast of Galveston, Tx. and moving west-northwest at 9 mph. Rita had sustained winds of 170 mph with gusts higher. A Hurricane Watch remains in effect for the Gulf of Mexico coast from Port Mansfield, Tx., to Intracoastal City, La.
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National Media:
We are working diligently to return your calls and answer your inquiries and requests, but the cell and landline telephone grids are often down or overloaded. Mr. Perry is at the Capitol Annex in Baton Rouge, and our PR team is set up in temporary offices in New Orleans. Please temporarily make requests to the following email: jstephenperry333@yahoo.com.
NOMCVB Members: Please direct your inquiries, requests and personal status updates to Keith Haggerty at 504-481-1768 or keithmhaggerty@yahoo.com.
Current Katrina Summary Update and
Hurricane Rita Update
As of 8:05 a.m. on Thursday, September 22:
Overview
According the the National Weather Service's 7 a.m. CST update, Category 5 Hurricane Rita was 490 miles southeast of Galveston, Tx. and moving west-northwest at 9 mph. Rita had sustained winds of 170 mph with gusts higher. A Hurricane Watch remains in effect for the Gulf of Mexico coast from Port Mansfield, Tx., to Intracoastal City, La. A Tropical Storm Watch remains in effect for the southeastern coast of Louisiana east of Morgan City to the mouth of the Mississippi River. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect on either side of the Hurricane Watch area from east of Intracoastal City to Morgan City, La., and from south of Port Mansfield to Brownsville, Tx.
New Orleans is under mandatory evacuation orders (Algiers is under voluntary evacuation orders) and Governor Kathleen Blanco has declared a state of emergency in Louisiana ahead of Hurricane Rita. New Orleans requested 200 buses for evacuation, and 150 were already available on Wednesday to evacuate the 400-500 people in New Orleans from departure points at the Convention Center and a stadium in Algiers.
Only 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 engineers have warned residents that the patched-up levees can only handle up to 6 inches of rain and a storm surge of 10 to 12 feet. So the Army Corps of Engineers continues pumping the water left behind by Hurricane Katrina and readying the city's levee system for another possible hurricane.
The Corps 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 are also working 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 has 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.
Nagin suspended the reopening of large portions of the city Monday evening and instead ordered nearly everyone out to err on the side of safety in light of Tropical Storm Rita's advance. Residents of New Orleans suburb Algiers had begun to return to their homes over the weekend and into Monday. Owners of businesses in the French Quarter and CBD were allowed back in Saturday to begin clean-up and plan their return to operation.
Entergy says that power has been restored to 19% of the affected New Orleans area. Progress is also being made on getting the city’s water and sewerage systems operational again. EPA air quality test results indicate absolutely no problem issues of any kind. Initial analysis of samples of flood water and soil from flooded areas, as well as Lake Ponchartrain water samples, shows that New Orleans is not nearly the "toxic soup" rumors had indicated.
The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and the Port of New Orleans remain open. The airport says that no airlines have canceled flights due to Rita. Northwest and Delta Airline arrivals began on September 13, and limited service continues. Continental, Southwest and American resumed limited service this week. While all cruises departing from New Orleans are temporarily suspended, the Port re-opened to cargo traffic on September 14.
