2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans flooding from hurricanes to the forefront. In response, the Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1965 which mandated that henceforth, the Corps of Engineers is the agency responsible for design and construction of flood protection projects, to include those in Greater New Orleans. The local interests' role was maintenance once the projects were complete. Also that year, Congress authorized the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection Project (LPVHPP) which reiterated the principle of local participation in federally funded projects. The project was initially estimated to take 13 years, but when Katrina struck in 2005, almost 40 years later, the
1915 New Orleans hurricane the hurricane would eventually make landfall—were first issued by the Weather Bureau on the morning of September 28 and disseminated via telegraph and mail. That afternoon, a hurricane warning was issued for coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico from Pensacola, Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana. Extensive efforts to communicate the imminent threat the hurricane posed began in earnest following the issuance of warnings for the area, with public interests being advised that the approaching storm could be stronger than the 1909 Grand Isle hurricane, which served as New Orleans' strongest documented tropical cyclone at the time. Warnings continued into