Irish Channel, New Orleans The neighborhood included the St. Thomas Development. Built on the city's old high ground, the neighborhood escaped the catastrophic flooding of most of the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (see: Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans). A historically working class neighborhood of New Orleans, the Irish Channel is home to a number of notable landmarks, including: The Irish Channel is zoned to schools in the New Orleans Public Schools (NOPS) and the Recovery School District (RSD). The Batiste Cultural Arts Academy is a K-8 charter school operated by the charter management organization ReNEW Schools that
Hurricane preparedness for New Orleans Hurricane Ivan's threat to the city resulted in the largest evacuation of the city to date. Mayor Ray Nagin issued a call for a voluntary evacuation of the city at 6 pm on September 13. An estimated 600,000 or more evacuated from Greater New Orleans. The contraflow plan was put into full effect for the first time, but rather late in the evacuation due to various confusions. This proved valuable practice, for the contraflow was implemented much more smoothly in 2005. Hurricane Pam was a hypothetical hurricane used as a disaster scenario to drive planning for a 13-parish area in