Hurricane Katrina... in 1969

What if, on August 17, 1969, Hurricane Camille struck New Orleans instead of the Mississippi Gulf Coast?
 
Without the extensive FEMA rules, Nixon moves the National Guard in Sooner.
Probably still a lot of confusion, but perceptions of Doing something would be Different.

However the Leeves would still be Broken - The Termite Nests still flood - The Sinking of NO still accelerates. NO is still a disaster 10 ~15 years afterwards.

If fact this may be the impulse needed and today 40 years later, NO is basically abandoned, as the Mississippi empties down the Red River. Like it has been trying since the 1940's.
 

Hyperion

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Given that a lot of resources during Katrina would not have existed in the 60s, this could see a much larger death toll.

I'm not sure how bad or good race relations where at the time, but a white dominated police department with racial issues might not be as willing to help some of the black neighborhoods. This would only compound the problem.

That being said, by this time if the police did something so stupid as to compound the fallout of a disaster, if New Orleans survives and rebuilds, I could see the NOPD being gutted and rebuilt from the top down, and maybe wiping out a lot of the more corrupt elements in the department. Long term, that could actually turn out to be a good thing.
 
The entire Gulf Coast would be wrecked (Though Camille probably did that IRL).
Even before FEMA, most federal disaster stuff was done only after state and local governments failed or were overwhelmed.
Even Nagin and Blanco at their worst were not as corrupt as some Louisiana officials, like the infamous Leander Perez.
New Orleans has been around far to long to simply go away.
Back then, storm warnings were a lot less accurate...
Would the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet be in existence yet? That majorly helped flood NOLA.
 
Yes, it would be bad. OTOH, it probably leads to stronger levees, butterflying away Katrina's damage (since New Orleans will probably be rebuilt).

The death toll would make Katrina look like a picnic, to put it mildly.
 
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