Wunder Blog : Weather Underground
Wunder Blog : Weather Underground: “Comparing Gustav to ‘Billion-Dollar Betsy’
Gustav’s track and expected intensity at landfall are similar to those of Hurricane Betsy of 1965. Betsy was a strong Category 4 hurricane as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico, which then weakened to a Category 3 at landfall, right where Gustav is predicted to make landfall (Figure 3). Betsy brought a storm surge of up to 15 feet to Louisiana (Figure 4). According to wikipedia, levees for the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet along Florida Avenue in the Lower Ninth Ward and on both sides of the Industrial Canal failed. The flood waters reached the eaves of houses in some places and over some one story roofs in the Lower Ninth Ward. These levee breaches flooded parts of Gentilly, the Upper Ninth Ward, and the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans as well as Arabi and Chalmette in neighboring St. Bernard Parish. Seventy-six people died in Louisiana, and ‘Billion-Dollar Betsy’ became the first billion-dollar hurricane ($10 billion in 2008 dollars). As a result of the hurricane, the Army Corps of Engineers was tasked with the job of upgrading the New Orleans levee system to withstand a future hurricane of Besty’s strength–but no stronger.
Figure 3. Track of Hurricane Betsy of 1965.
Figure 4. Simulated maximum storm surge from Hurricane Betsy of 1965, as modeled using the ADCIRC”
Tags: Emergency Response, Hurricane Damage, Water Damage