City of New Orleans Activates Freeze Plan

The City of New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (NOHSEP) is urging residents to prepare for extremely cold weather, expected to begin overnight Sunday, Jan. 19, and continue through Wednesday, Jan. 22. Hard freeze conditions are possible, along with Cold Weather Advisories or Extreme Cold Warnings.

St. Roch Drainage Improvements

Mitigating Flooding in St. Roch Neighborhood

New Orleans' St. Roch community suffers frequent flooding even in small rain events, a result of inadequate stormwater infrastructure. To address this, the St. Roch Resilience Project focuses on a 26-block area between North Robertson Avenue to the North, St. Claude Avenue to the South, Elysian Fields Avenue to the West, and Franklin Avenue to the East.

By pursuing integrated green and gray infrastructure enhancements within the target sub-basin, the project will benefit the St. Roch neighborhood while also serving as a template for other communities needing drainage improvements in the City.

View the Current Project Fact Sheet

Nestled between high grounds of the river and Claiborne Avenue ridge, the standard approach to fixing urban drainage problems -- installing more drainage structure pipes adequately sized to convey stormflows -- will not work in St. Roch, as there is nowhere for the water to go during storms.

For the St. Roch neighborhood, the project represents the opportunity to realize renewed and transformative streets with underground stormwater detention and “at-the-surface” green infrastructure, which will greatly improve streetscape aesthetics and the quality of life in the neighborhood.