9th Ward of New Orleans
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The 9th ward is a distinctive region of New Orleans, Louisiana that is located in the eastern downriver portion of the city. It is bounded by the Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana on the westernmost side and Lake Pontchartrain in the north. Some notable landmarks in this region include the Lakefront airport and Bally's casino, arguably made famous by the Hot Boys music video "We On Fire". Since then, it has become commonplace for a multitude of different artists to mention the 9th ward in their songs.
A small portion of the 9th ward is down river from the Industrial Canal; this is the "Lower 9th Ward" neighborhood, inbetween the Canal and St. Bernard Parish. The rest of the ward is sometimes called the "Upper 9th ward", but more commonly simply "the 9th Ward".
For city planning purposes, the majority of the 9th ward is referred to as the ninth planning district of New Orleans, though this area also includes planning districts 10 and 11 (not to be confused with the 10th and 11th wards.)[1] A map of the region that constitutes the 9th ward can be found here: [2]. The territory officially became part of New Orleans in 1852 when a large portion of Jefferson Parish called the city of Lafayette (not to be confused with the current city of Lafayette, Louisiana,) which included several other wards, became part of the newly unified city of New Orleans. A list of New Orleans Ward boundaries can be found here: [3]
Among the famous residents of the 9th Ward are Fats Domino, author Kalamu ya Salaam, rapper Brian "Baby" Williams, rapper Lil Wayne, and rapper Mr. Magic, "Mr. Ninth Ward" who popularized the initials "CTC," which stand for "Cross the Canal" refering to the Industrial Canal or "Cut Throat City".
Parts of the 9th Ward flooded during Hurricane Flossy in 1956.
The Lower 9th Ward experienced catestrophic flooding in Hurricane Betsy in 1965.
Both the Upper and Lower 9th Ward experienced catestrophic flooding in Hurricane Katrina in 2005. During the Hurricane aftermath live television news coverage announced by reporters and anchors with little familiarity with New Orleans included repeated confused misinformation over several days, including refering to the Lower 9th Ward simply as "the 9th Ward", misidentifying helicopter shots of the Industrial Canal breech as the 17th Canal breech (which was actually at the almost opposite end of the city), and references to "counties", a geographic division which does not exist in the state of Louisiana.
The Lower 9th Ward, not yet dry from Katrina, was reflooded by Hurricane Rita a month later.