What historical event is this describing?

[tagryn]

...the hurricane also drove a storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain, just north of New Orleans, and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a deep-water shipping channel to the east and south. 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 water reached the eaves of houses in some places and over some one story roofs in the Lower Ninth Ward. Some residents drowned in their attics trying to escape the rising waters.

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. The President visited the city, promising New Orleans' mayor federal aid.

It was ten days or more before the water level in New Orleans went down enough for people to return to their homes. It took even longer than that to restore their flooded houses to a livable condition. Those who did not have family or friends with dry homes had to sleep in the shelters at night and forage for supplies during the day, while waiting for the federal government to provide emergency relief in the form of trailers.

In all, 164,000 homes were flooded.

Evidence suggests that cheap construction and poor maintenance of the structures led to the failure of the levees. However, popular rumor persists that they were intentionally breached, possibly as a means of salvaging the more prosperous French Quarter.

This is a description of Hurricane Katrina, right?

Nope. Hurricane Betsy, 1965. Those who don't learn from history...

Comments

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Repeated it when Katrina hit. You may find this article on storms and national policy of interest.

I was particularly struck by this part:
"Among other things, Nixon proposed a law that offered two extra years of unemployment benefits to hurricane victims, low-interest loans to local governments that lost property-tax revenue because of disasters, and the repair or replacement of public facilities. He also favored steps to simplify and speed debris removal from private property."