Louisiana High School Athletic Association student athletes in 1990. Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita hit Southern Louisiana at the beginning of the 2005 high school football season. The evacuation of New Orleans and other communities forced dozens of high schools to close for months, and several campuses were damaged or destroyed by flooding and wind damage. The football season was not canceled, but several games were postponed or canceled. Some schools in the disaster area were forced to withdraw from competition. Most public schools in Orleans Parish, St. Bernard Parish, and Plaquemines Parish were so badly damaged that they were forced to cancel their entire
Hurricane preparedness for New Orleans from the Mississippi River. In 1947, the Fort Lauderdale hurricane struck the New Orleans area. There was moderate wind damage. Flood prevention was largely successful in Orleans Parish, but there was severe flooding in the new East Jefferson suburbs near the Lake. Hurricane Flossy in 1956 resulted in flooding in parts of Eastern New Orleans. Hurricane Betsy in 1965 alerted a new generation to the threat posed by major hurricanes. As radar showed the storm heading for the city, a mandatory evacuation of Eastern New Orleans was declared. The Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal channeled storm surge into the metro area.