Most business are prepped for the storm
After days of hoping, the organizers of New Orleans’ Southern Decadence have been forced to cut back the event significantly – the Saturday street party has been cancelled and the parade appears to as well.
With Hurricane Gustav looming and expected to hit just west of New Orleans on late Monday night, the city has already called for a “voluntary visitor evacuation”. New Orleans Mayor Nagin told tourists “it is time to leave our city, please begin the process of evacuation”. A mandatory evacuation is expected early Sunday morning.
Finer restaurants served their last meals on Friday night and most hotels forced their visitors to check out on Saturday morning and sent guests looking for temporary places to stay until they could find a flight, train or car out of town.
A diminishing number of stalwarts, including me, are taking the time to enjoy the remaining festivities (the bars still remain open) before our newly rescheduled flights for Sunday. While the gay part of the quarter still shows signs of life, most of Bourbon Street is boarded up and military vehicles are roving the streets in preparation for the storm.
We wish all New Orleans residents and visitors a safe evacuation and trip to their destination and hope that the storm ends up being a lot less than the dire predictions indicate.
