It may rain on Saturday's parades, but New Orleans officials are making plans for krewes to roll through the city regardless of the weather. As the threat of storms remain in the forecast, city leaders say they're working on contingency plans in the event parades can't run as scheduled.
"We're not in the mood about canceling parades," New Orleans emergency preparedness director Collin Arnold said. "We're in the mood of rescheduling them, and we do have some limited availability to do that."
Arnold says the goal is to parade as scheduled on Saturday. Still, Arnold and other city leaders are preparing for the possibility of having to reschedule those parades.
"We are working closely with the National Weather Service and all of our partners--most importantly, the New Orleans Police Department--on contigency plans for Saturday," Arnold said. "We can more some times back and forth. We will thread the needle with some of these parades."
Arnold says he and city officials say any decisions they make will come down to one major factor.
"We will make sure that parades can roll as long as it's safe for not only the krewes but for all of the spectators and all of our employees, all of our public safety, (and) the vendors, everyone that's out there. We want to make sure that they are safe."
Arnold says he's staying optimistic, but just in case, he's in contact with krewe leaders about backup plans.
"We will continue to work with them, those Saturday krewes, to see what we can do to keep this safe but also to let the parades roll," Arnold said. "This is Carnival, so let's be positive."
Two area krewes have already changed their parade schedules because of the weather. The Magical Krewe of Mad Hatters will now roll through Metairie on Sunday following the Krewe of Atlas Parade. Atlas will now roll two hours earlier. Their parade will now start at 2:00 Sunday afternoon.
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