Hurricane Preparedness For New Orleans - Late 20th Century Hurricanes

Late 20th Century Hurricanes

Hurricane Flossy in 1956 resulted in flooding in parts of Eastern New Orleans.

Hurricane Betsy in 1965 alerted a new generation to the threat of major hurricane hits. As radar showed the storm heading for the city, a mandatory evacuation of Eastern New Orleans was declared. The Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal channeled storm surge into the metro area. A levee failure was responsible for major flooding in Lower 9th Ward.

The heavy flooding caused by Hurricane Betsy brought concerns regarding flooding from hurricanes to the forefront. Betsy resulted in major redesign of levee system. By authorizing the United States Army Corps of Engineers to design and construct the flood protection, Congress essentially overrode responsibility for the local flood protection by the local levee boards. The Flood Control Act of 1965 directed the Corps of Engineers to design and construct the flood protection for the maximum anticipated hurricane for the area. (This project was still under construction when the city was hit by Katrina 40 years later.)

The Corps of Engineers also designed a Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Barrier to shield the city with flood gates like those that protect the Netherlands from the North Sea. Congress provided funding and construction began in 1971, but work stopped in 1977 when a federal judge ruled, in a suit brought by the environmental group Save Our Wetlands, that the Corps' environmental impact statement was deficient. In 1985, after nearly a decade of court battles, the Corps scrapped the plan, and decided on reinforcing the city’s levee system instead.

The threat of Hurricane Camille was shown in advance by improvement in radar technology, and much of New Orleans braced for a repeat of Betsy. However instead Camille turned east to hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Juan (1985) prompted a large evacuation from the city, but did little damage.

Hurricane Andrew threatened the city in 1992. Clearly a major killer storm that had already devastated parts of South Florida, it prompted the largest evacuation of the city to date. The storm turned west of the city, but prompted re-evaluation of emergency evacuation plans.

Hurricane Georges in 1998 prompted an even larger evacuation. The Louisiana Superdome was opened as a shelter of last resort for those unable to evacuate, with unfortunate consequences as much of the Dome was looted. Highways leaving the city were tied up bumper to bumper, prompting development of the Contraflow lane reversal plan. The evacuation from Greater New Orleans and the nearby Mississippi Coast was the largest evacuation in U.S. history up to that time.

Georges missed the city, but it caused significant storm surge which raised the level of Lake Pontchartrain to the point that the city was saved from major flooding only by the lake levees and floodwalls. There was significant destruction to the areas just outside of the floodwalls, including at Little Woods and at West End near the mouth of the 17th Street Canal.