University of Delaware Disaster Research Center HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE DISASTER SERIES #5 HURRICANE BETSY, 1965; A SELECTIVE ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSE IN THE NEW ORLEANS AREA Thomas R. Forrest 1979 FOREWORD Following IIurricane 3etsy, the Disaster bsearch Center undertook an intensive study of some of the organizational responses in the New Orleans area. From the data gathered in field work, a working paper was prepared several years later. This was never publicly circulated beyond DRC because it was iaterided to be but the first of two or three other extensive case studies which were to be part of a comparative analysis of camunity orga- nizational response to major disaster. For a variety of reasons the other case studies were never written. However, the New Orleans case study, even at the present time, still is one of the more detailed ones existing in disaster literature. It is, therefore, now being published in nore public folm, so disaster researchers and historians will have easier access to the material. The present version is almost identical to the original working paper except for some minor editing and limited bibliographical updating. As such, time reference to the organizations and actions described in the mono- graph refer to the year 1965 when the hurricane hit Louisiana. Structure and functim of such groups as local Red Cross chapters aad civil defense have changed somewhat in the ensuicg decade. E. L. Qucirantc1I.i Direct or ii The author acknmrledges tSe ascist,?nce of David Adams, Jmcs Rcsri, B-zbara Tootle, and Stephen Vargo in the preparation of this paper. CONTEWS Page foreword.. ...................................................ii Acknofijledgment................................................. iii Table .......................................................... vi Chapter 1. IKIRODUCTION. 0 . - - . , 1 Hurricane Experience: A Disaster Subculture Data Collection XI. DESCRIPTIVE ACCOUNT OF HURRICANE BETSY IN NEW ORLEANS. .5 Hurricane Betsy: Pre-Iupact Hurricane Betsy: Impact Hurricane Betsy : Post Imp ac t Chronology - 111. CIVIL DEFENSE. .................... .22 Organizational Structure Pre-Eargency Tasks Bsevious Disaster Experience Emergency Ad aptat ions Organizational Adaptations Decision Making Authority Structure Task Reorientation Interorganizational Relationslips Conclusions IV. THE NEW ORLEANS SALVATION AF??: HURRICANE BETSY DISMTER RELIEF. ....................46 National Organizational Structure of the Salvation Amy Organizational Structure of the Salvation Army in New Orleans . Salvation Army Emergency Operations Intra- and Inter-organizational Relationships in - Ehergency Operations ,; Interorganizational Problems Summary V. THE NnJ ORLEANS RED CROSS. .............. .66 Tasks and Authority Mobilization of the New Orleans Red Cross Chapter Red Cross Shelter Operations Conclusion VI. NEW ORLEANS PU3LIC SERVICE INCORPORATED. .......-86 Organizational Structure -- Pre-Impact Period Organizational Structure -- Impact Period Organizational Structure -- Post-Impact Period Problems and Adaptations Concluc- ?s iV Chapter VII. SOVTEE!N BELL TELEPXOIE AND TEL?GKNH COMPANY. 0 e103 Intr >duction Gene tal Organizctional Structure Pre-OLsastcr Frepsrztions Ene-gency Pericd: 9:OO p.m. Thursdg to Daylight =iday Pos .-Stom Period: Sept..tsn:Tar 10 thrc ~ghSepfmber 19 Int xorganizatioL3a1 Relat.:onships Other Operating Problems Summary VIII. CORcmTsION. .....................e.125 Organizational Changes 1s. REFERFXES. ...................... 131 V 1. Disaster Service and support tasks performel by local Red Croes Chapters ........................ ..........,.................... 70 vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This monograph presents a descriptive case study of organizational response to the threat and impact of Hurricane Betsy which struck Net? Orleans, Louisiana September 9 and 10, 1965. The study focuses on five organizations: Civil Defense, Salvation Amy, Red Cross, Public Works (which includes electric, gas, and transit division), and the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company. Each chapter will concentrate on the particular organization's adaptation to increased demands brought about by the disaster agent. In focusing on organizational adaptations to a disaster, we will be concerned with the unique situation of a "double disaster." A double disaster is the occurrence of one disaster agent (hurricane) followed shortly by another disaster agent (flood). While Organizations expected and prepared for a hurricane, they were also confronted with a flood which required reassessment in allocating existing and emergency re- sources. Extensive flooding, resulting from a tidal surge, forced water from the Mississippi River to overflow the existing levee struc- ture. The eastern section of the city experienced the bulk of the flood. Three time periods will be used in discussing the double disaster: pre-impact, impact, end post-impact. The pre-impact stage is the period preceding the hurricane-f lood in which a hurricane warning alerts orga- nizations to prepare for the ensuing disaster. This stage is charac- terized by organizations mobilizing their material resources and person- nel according to a disaster plan formulated from previous hurricane experience. The pre-impact stage is somevrhat different for each orga- nization since so= organizations began preparations before others; how- ever. for the purposes of this monograph, 8:OO p.m. September 9 will designate the end of the pre-impact stage and the beginning of the impact period. The impact period continues from 8:OO p,m. September 9 until 9:00 a.m. September 10, This stage is characterizied by various degrees of organizational response ranging from total inactivity to active in- volvement (e.g., providing transportation for evacuees). It was in this period that the hurricane swept its way across southern Louisiana, simul- teneously creating a tidal surge which lead to extensive flooding. Al- though the hurricaae did cause heavy damage, the immediate problem6 faced by organizations in the post-impact stage centered around the flooding. The post-impact stage began around 9:OO a.m. September 10 and ended at a different tine foi each organization; however, for most orga- nizations some degree of normalcy was reached by September 26, 1975. It is on this post-impact period that each chapter will focus, describing the adaptations each organization had to naite in confronting the double disaster. Hurricane Experience: A Disaster Subculture Hurricanes are not new to the New Orleans area. Previous hurricane threats and side effects have enabled organizations to mdce specific adaptations in confronting these storms. Hurricane Hilda in 1964 pro- vided a very real experience which encouraged organizations to develop detailed energency plaas. It was the plans formed from previous hurri- cane experiences that Were put into operation with the threat of Hurri- cane Betsy; and it was this set of emergency procedures that had to undergo adjustments to Che unexpected flooding. In order to conprehend the initial set of organizational responses to the hurricane threat, it is helpful to understand the concept of a "disaster subculture." New Orleans , along with other Gulf Coast cities, has undergone repeated--almost annual--hurricar,e threats. Studies con- ducted in communities that experience predictable disruptions (i.e., annual floods or hurricanes) have shown that organizations learn to adopt activities so that appropriate action can be taken to conbat the dis aster . The concept of subculture refers to those identifiable variations - in the more general and pervasive cultural themes and patterns -? characteristic of a given society. Subcultures exist when certain groups of people come to share rather distinctive cultural charac- teristics which set them off, or differentiate then, from other groups ...Thus, a disaster subculture may be defined as those sub- cultural patterns operative in a given area which are geared towards the solution of problems, both social and nonsocial, arising from the awareness of som form of almost periodic disaster threat. (Anderson, 1965: 3) The period from Juae 1 to the end of November is designated as the hurricane setison. Shortly after June 1, all city goverrment emergency- oriented departments with the military, nedical, and allied agencies meet to review emergency plans and to inform each other of organizational changes. This is known as the mayor's Disaster Survival Committee. These annual meetings illustrate the repetitive responses typical of a disaster subculture. Maxy of the adaptationa that organizations made to the threat and impact of Hurricane Betsy had been learned responses developed from previous hurricane experiences. However, with each new dioaster ex- perience, additional knowledge is gathered to more effectively plan and cope with these disruptions. Throughout the mnograph, references will be nade to previous plans and adaptations that organizations have found to be useful from past disaster experience. -2- Data Collection In studying organized behavior in disasters, the Disaster Research Center (DRC) has developed a fourfold typology classifying organizations according to their structure and tasks. The four organizational types are establirhed, expanding, extending, and emergent organizations. Established organizations maintain their existing structure and generally continue their nmnslly assigned taskn during an emergency period (e.g., telephone company, public utilities, police and fire departments).