Monday Morning Update on Hotel Collapse

Mayor LaToya Cantrell this morning continued to update residents on the progress of response efforts by the City’s public safety agencies to the partial collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel building under construction in the downtown area.

“We were able to remove one of our victims on yesterday afternoon,” said Mayor Cantrell. “This continues to be a rescue mission at this time. We have removed the individual from the site. It will then move very swiftly into an investigative mode.”

Early anecdotal evidence shows success by a massive public awareness effort to prepare residents for Monday morning commute challenges for motorists and transit riders in the downtown area presented by the recovery effort in general and street closures in. Here are some highlights of updates:

NEW ORLEANS FIRE DEPARTMENT (NOFD)

NOFD continues to lead the response effort, with a focus today on the ongoing work to stabilize the building. NOFD remains in a search and rescue mode in effort to locate and remove the lone missing person. Currently there are two confirmed fatalities, with one of the deceased individuals identified and transferred to the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office. NOFD is working with engineering teams to develop an action plan that includes safety; a safety officer is available for all crane operations.

NEW ORLEANS HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS (NOHSEP)

NOHSEP provides support for all public safety agencies, including constant communication with the National Weather Service to check for wind conditions, chance of precipitation and other weather conditions that might affect response efforts. NOHSEP continues a robust public messaging effort through NOLA Ready (@nolaready on social media).

NEW ORLEANS HEALTH DEPARTMENT (NOHD)

NOHD is working with grief counselors/mental health professionals on-site as needed.

NOHD is working with American Red Cross to address short term needs of 37 displaced individuals, including comfort kits and snacks. NOHD also helped facilitate hotel rooms and meals for displaced individuals, with the support of partners in the hospitality industry.

Catholic Charities is assisting in assessing behavioral health needs of those affected. There is an overall assessment underway of long-term mental health needs of families, evacuees and first responders.

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS (DPW)

Road closures remain in place. As mentioned previously, early anecdotal evidence shows that the Monday morning commute has been relatively smooth considering the circumstances. All road closures remain in effect:

• Canal Street is closed at Dauphine, Burgundy, Rampart, Elk, S. Liberty (river-bound)
• Rampart Street is closed at Bienville, Iberville, Common, Conti
• Elk Place is closed at Tulane, Cleveland (in-bound) 
• Basin Street is closed at St. Louis, Conti (in-bound), Iberville
• Burgundy Street is closed at Iberville

ENTERGY NEW ORLEANS (ENO)

Electrical service remains out at the building. There are no concerns with ENO’s electric facilities in the area at this time. ENO gas crews completed a leak inspection of the Hard Rock Hotel site on Saturday evening and did not find any evidence of a gas leak. Gas service has been shut off to nine buildings within the evacuation zone out of an abundance of caution. Once the site is deemed safe and the evacuation order has been lifted, ENO will restore gas to customers.

ENO gas crews will remain in close coordination with local authorities and will continue to support as needed.

Note: Several agencies had little or no additional information to share at this time. For a review of updates to the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority and NOLA Public Schools, read Sunday night’s update, or visit nola.gov/news.

For updates, follow @nolaready on Twitter.