New Orleanians and tourists Tuesday marked the city’s highest snowfall in decades by skiing down Bourbon Street, trekking to neighborhood restaurants that remained open and having a snowball fight in the French Quarter.
The snow brought some levity to a city jolted on New Year’s Day by a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens more when a driver in a pickup truck barreled into crowds on Bourbon Street.
But the winter storm, which dumped up to 10 inches of snow on some areas of New Orleans, also meant added work for city and state workers.
Local interstate highways, along with the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway bridge were closed because of snow and ice. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry posted on X urging people to stay off the roads to make way for emergency personnel. “I hope everyone is safe and warm at home with a big pot of gumbo,” he said.
Collin Arnold, New Orleans’ director of homeland security and emergency preparedness, said in a press briefing Tuesday afternoon that the city had brought in 14 snow plows with a priority of clearing roadways near local hospitals.
“The next couple of days, there’s going to be a lot of recovery from this just as far as roadways,” he said.
Although no snow is forecast for the remainder of this week, temperatures are expected to remain below freezing into Thursday. And public schools in the city remained were closed Wednesday and expected to be closed Thursday.
Meanwhile, there’s more work ahead with the Super Bowl, expected to bring upwards of 125,000 revelers to the area, less than three weeks away.
Michael Hecht, state infrastructure coordinator for the Super Bowl, said some contractors tried to get ahead of Tuesday’s storm this past weekend. As the city braced for temperatures to drop, crews worked on paving and light installation projects in the French Quarter.
He said the planners’ goals were to conclude as many projects as possible by Jan. 31, because some visitors will begin arriving as early as Feb. 1. The city’s timeline accounted for weather delays, he said, but work would need to resume by Thursday to remain on track to complete the bulk of the remaining projects.
“Saying that we’re going to be able to land the plane doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t appreciate a slightly longer runway,” Hecht said.
Jay Cicero, president of the Super Bowl Host Committee, said in a statement that he was “confident the teams on the ground will complete these preparations on time and within their original scope.”
In recent years, winter storms have brought hardships to major Southern cities. During a 2021 crisis in Texas, more than 200 people died after millions of energy customers lost power. Freezing temperatures that year also left many residents and businesses in Jackson, Mississippi, and Shreveport, Louisiana, without running water.
So far, New Orleans has had only a smattering of power outages and no major issues with its water supply. But some leaders have expressed concerns about how some of the most vulnerable New Orleanians are faring.
Last week, under an emergency order from Landry, the state shut down an encampment of homeless people near the SuperDome. Several were bused to a temporary shelter, a warehouse located several miles away.
Landry has described it as an effort to protect the city’s homeless people, as well as the city. “It is in the best interest of every citizen’s safety and security to give the unhoused humane and safe shelter as we begin to welcome the world to the City of New Orleans for both Super Bowl LIX and Mardi Gras,” he said in a statement Jan 13. But some New Orleans officials and advocates said the use of a temporary warehouse facility harmed their efforts to provide long-term housing.
Slim Goodies Diner in the city’s Uptown district, was one of the few local restaurants that remained open Tuesday.
The eatery, which was among the first to open in the city after Hurricane Katrina, has a reputation for toughing out storms ahead of evacuation orders and welcoming patrons back early when they subside.
“We are known for always being open, no matter what it is that happens,” owner Deborah Schumacher said.
For Hecht, the snow is just one more thing the city will survive and meet with good humor.
“We somewhat have gotten tired of the word resilient in this city, because it’s overused and sometimes seems to be an excuse for a lack of preparation,” he said. “But in this case, we’re going to be fine.”
