Photo du Jour: Tad Gormley Stadium/City Park

I made it over to City Park and Tad Gormley Stadium this morning. The areas closest to the Metairie Ridge avoided the floodwaters (the New Orleans Museum of Art, for instance), but the majority of the park got a minimum of two feet of water. At the Botanic Garden and Storyland, final preperations were underway for the annual Christmas in the Oaks. There has been some opposition to holding the event this year, but City Park is putting it on. I was able to walk into both areas and to my surprise the relatively new Train Garden appeared to be in good shape which I just assumed for sure was ruined.

Notice the water line on the stadium wall. From the marks on the walls it appears the water was about three feet within the stadium. The football field's grass is mostly dead, but patches of weeds are growing in some places. The white painted yardline and number markings can be still be seen on the field. Outside the main entrance of the stadium where the ground and sidewalks slope down a bit the water seems to have been over four feet and even deeper towards Orleans Avenue. The areas directly adjacent to the stadium (and a few places under the stadium) are being used as camps for workers. Tents and trailers and RVs are scattered throughout the oaks in this part of City Park. Even more worker camp sites are located to the north in Marconi Meadows (site of the annual Voodoo Music Festival) . . .

The City Park website has a good collection of pre-/post- KTMB photos taken throughout City Park here.