New Orleans

I

Introduction

New Orleans, one of North America’s most distinctive and culturally diverse cities, located in southeastern Louisiana on the Mississippi River, about 180 km (about 110 mi) from the Gulf of Mexico. The city was founded in 1718 on the east bank of the Mississippi and south of Lake Pontchartrain. New Orleans, named for Philippe II, Duc d'Orléans, regent of France under Louis XV, has been a leading commercial center since its founding and has one of the most active ports in the United States. After World War II (1939-1945), the city’s rich cultural heritage contributed to its emergence as a major international tourist center.

New Orleans has a semitropical climate, with an average daily temperature range of 5°C (42°F) to 16°C (61°F) in January and 23°C (73°F) to 33°C (91°F) in July. The city averages 157 cm (62 in) of precipitation per year.

New Orleans’s location near the Gulf Coast makes it vulnerable to tropical storms. The city is especially susceptible to flooding from hurricane storm surges due to its position in a bowl-shaped area mostly below sea level between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, which connects with the Gulf of Mexico. The city was devastated in August 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, which necessitated mass evacuation of the city.

II

New Orleans and Its Metropolitan Area

The original French settlement of New Orleans was built on the east bank of the Mississippi, where sediment from the river had created areas of elevated land. As the population grew, the city spread out into the low-lying area bordering Lake Pontchartrain. Originally, this area was a huge cypress swamp, but in the early 20th century engineers began building a network of pumps to drain it dry. Over the years, engineers also built about 560 km (about 350 mi) of earthen levees, concrete floodwalls, and canals to keep water out of the city. At the same time, this system of protection meant that water had no natural way of flowing out. Even rainwater had to be pumped over the lip of the bowl formed by the levees.

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Today, more than 80 percent of New Orleans is below sea level and the lowest parts of the city are about 3 m (10 ft) below sea level. The city has been sinking at a rate of about 1 m (3 ft) every 100 years. The city was constructed on soft silt, sand, and clay—sediments deposited by the Mississippi River over centuries of flooding. However, after a massive flood in 1927, levees along the river were raised and lined with concrete to prevent further flooding. As a result, the river’s sediments have been channeled into the Gulf of Mexico. Over time, New Orleans’s underlying sediments have compacted, and without the river’s replenishing sediments the land has sunk. Rising sea levels due to global warming threaten to speed up the sinking process.

Although levees and other barriers have long prevented flooding from the Mississippi River, they have been less effective against storms from the Gulf of Mexico. In September 1947 an unnamed hurricane flooded Jefferson Parish, a suburb on the east bank of the Mississippi River, to depths of about 1 m (3 ft). After the storm, hurricane-protection levees were built along Lake Pontchartrain’s southern shore.

In 1965 Hurricane Betsy made landfall about 80 km (about 50 mi) east of New Orleans, blasting the city with winds of at least 200 km/h (125 mph). The storm surge, which neared 3 m (10 ft), left almost half the city flooded and 60,000 residents homeless. After that hurricane, existing levees were raised to heights ranging from 4 to 7 m (14 to 23 ft). However, the levees were constructed to withstand no more than a Category 3 hurricane. In August 2005 Hurricane Katrina struck with the force of the upper end of a Category 3 storm. Winds reaching 225 km/h (140 mph) and a storm surge of nearly 9 m (29 ft) lashed the Gulf Coast. The storm surge breached several of the city’s levees bordering Lake Pontchartrain. On the 17th Street Canal, a section about 90 m (about 300 ft) wide collapsed, allowing a torrent of water to enter the city. The rapidly rising waters flooded more than 80 percent of New Orleans. The disaster prompted a mandatory evacuation of the entire city. A week after the storm, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished patching the 17th Street Canal levee and began pumping water out of the city. But by then the damage was catastrophic.

The city’s low-lying central and eastern areas were hit especially hard by the flooding from Hurricane Katrina. In those areas, floodwaters reached a depth of 6 m (20 ft) in places. Areas on higher ground were largely spared, including the center core of high-rise buildings, the historic French Quarter and Garden District neighborhoods, and suburbs such as Algiers. Rebuilding the city was expected to take years and billions of dollars. For more information on the effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, see the History section of this article.

A

French Quarter

The French Quarter, also known as the Vieux Carré, is the site of the original settlement. Exotic houses and wrought-iron balconies reflecting French and Spanish architectural styles dominate this unique district’s narrow streets. The French Quarter’s central plaza is Jackson Square, which features a bronze statue of Andrew Jackson, who led the defense of New Orleans during the War of 1812 (1812-1815) and later became U.S. president. The square is surrounded by the Saint Louis Cathedral, built in 1794 and remodeled in 1851; the Cabildo and the Presbytère, former government buildings erected in the 18th century; and the Pontalba Buildings, large apartment buildings constructed in 1849. East of Jackson Square on Decatur Street is the French Market, home of numerous shops. On nearby Chartres Street stands the Ursuline Convent, which was founded by Ursuline nuns in 1734 and is thought to be the oldest building in the Mississippi Valley. On the eastern boundary of the French Quarter on Esplanade Avenue is the Old U.S. Mint, which was built in the 19th century and refurbished in 1981. A streetcar line parallels the Mississippi River and provides transportation from one end of the French Quarter to the other. Jazz is still a popular attraction on Basin and Bourbon streets, where this treasured American musical form first appeared and gained fame in the early 20th century.

B

Central Business District

On the western end of the French Quarter is Canal Street, the location of the U.S. Custom House, which housed the Union Army headquarters during the American Civil War (1861-1865), and the boundary between the French Quarter and the Central Business District, the city's commercial hub. Riverwalk, a large shopping center, and the New Orleans Convention Center, which holds hundreds of conferences a year, are the business district's most prominent buildings.