The Roosevelt New Orleans the unique reputation of having quality upscale food at any hour of the night. It was very popular with its proximity to the theaters in the city. Another extensive renovation occurred in the late 1990s with all of the guest rooms being renovated. The Fairmont New Orleans was damaged during Hurricane Katrina August, 2005 and closed indefinitely. While some repair work was done, work was suspended in an incomplete state in March 2007 after preliminary estimates of the damage were revealed to have been greatly underestimated. On August 24, 2007, Sam Friedman, a son of the late Louisiana State Senator
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