Jeudi

CBD -- A plume of smoke stretched across the sky in the center of New Orleans tonight. Turns out, the billowing smoke originated on the top floors of the former Grand Palace Hotel, at the corner of Canal St. and N. Claiborne Ave., which caught fire after 8 p.m. The two-alarm blaze forced road closures around the area of the 18-story building, including Interstate 10 in both directions between the Claiborne Ave. and Orleans Ave., according to officials. About 10:30 p.m., the interstate was reopened.

A cause wasn't immediately identified by the fire department. The gutted building is located at the northwest corner of the intersection. Flames were highly visible from the CBD on the South side of the building, as the blaze scorched the top few floors of the building. Fire officials did not immediately give details about the cause. The abandoned hotel, which is inside the LSU-VA hospital footprint, was scheduled to be demolished later in July.

In addition to the interstate, authorities also shut down surface streets around the blaze including Canal St. from Galvez to Villere, as well as Claiborne Ave. between Cleveland and Iberville.