our website. week, american history america" 50u "reel years ago on september 9, 19 65, hurricane betsy made landfall near new orleans. a category four storm with winds up to 155 miles per hour. "hurricane called betsy" is a defense department film documenting billion dollar betsy, the first storm in u.s. history to cause over $1 billion in damage. it surged over 10 feet, leading to breached levees and 76 deaths. many residents had to wait for rescue on rooftops and relief shelters were overwhelmed.

>> 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition. lift off. >> say again? stage two. >> the air was fair at cape kennedy. there is noce weather at all. the only problem was a leaky fuel cell. out in the atlantic something else was brewing. ♪

>> dawn, august 27. a florida bases, navy, weather bureau, air force planes are warming up. astronautsverhead, are still alone in space. but not quite alone. from the first day on they have been scouring the sky, circling, clicking their pictures back-and-forth. on the 27th they make a discovery. >> tropical depression at 13 degrees north latitude. >> the astronauts see it first. >> do you have any kind of

report on that possible threat? stormis a rather large with heavy activity. we can see air to ground lightning. it doesn't have an eye. >> name of that is betsy, in case you have not been told. >> a hurricane is born and christened betsy. in two places the news travels. the national hurricane center in ismi, where gordon done checking reports. and in houston they are scheduled to splashdown right in the path of the storm. the first victim of betsy, gemini five, the flight cut short. hooper and conrad splashdown safely. ♪

betsy wonders north towards the bahamas. our sitetourists suing, buying souvenirs, shopping. only a few bother to give thanks. betsy swings by safely to the east. florida relaxes as well. starting its playful weekend. ♪ but for the weather bureau and hurricane watchers, it is no holiday at all here in has 2000 miles. coming towards leeward island, skirting cuba and the bahamas. 300 miles north she runs into westerly tradewinds.

bad news wherever it hits. ,25 mile per hour winds swirling around and warm as i. eye. enormous ♪ suddenly, on sunday night that seek runs head-on into a , travelingre ridge south and coming fast, back towards the bahamas. monday morning, the wall clouds , carryinginto nassau on for nearly 15 hours. hurricane flags are flying now from key west to cape kennedy.

in miami the civil defense haveency operating center been on alert. winds may reach hurricane forces by tuesday evening. >> anyone in the path of the hurricane should seek safe harbor. >> miami beach will be underwater. get out now. >> all grocery stores and hardware stores closed for the holiday are urgently requested to reopen. if you are porting up, be sure to use strong lumber. remove coconuts from nearby palm trees.

>> advanced winds begin coming in. on the beaches, youngsters are finding the best surfing since hurricane carol. fairwinds for the skateboard sailors as well. not so much for last-minute shoppers. by nightfall the wind has turned to driving rain. at miami international airport, normally one of the busiest in the world, the last bird of passage has flown. witnesses are still tying down traffic lights and making other last-minute preparations. >> all storm shelters are now open.

if you feel that your home is now insecure, go now to your nearest red cross emergency shelter. >> guilt force winds are striking now. in -- gale force winds are striking now. 6000 people are packed into red cross shelters, just waiting for it to happen. >> wind gusts are now topping 100 miles per hour. escape routes will be cut off shortly. reported,ified female fallen, paralyzed.

>> in the luxury hotels along miami beach, water already pours over the welcome mat. fish have been swimming down the avenue. fish and eels swimming right down the main drag of miami beach. >> this is the key largo area. the road is washed out. >> a long night for civil defense. all the dull, quiet things done over the years, the free hurricane drills, the planning and preparation for any kind of disaster, the coordinated efforts of the government and voluntary agencies are finally paying off. 23., roof blown off a house. there are injuries. >> seven hotels badly damaged. >> betsy, with her hurricane

winds, is on the hurricane mainland's and on key largo. >> at dawn, the eye of the hurricane crosses key largo with heavy winds. ♪ hurricane winds would continue for hours. as will calls for help. >> do you need some amphibious docs? are there any other injuries involved? >> for families marooned. families marooned. >> as betsy blows by florida, she leaves damage behind. around for -- 140 million. several dead. 4000 homes wrecked, flooded out.

beach a bigger whale has been grounded. a freighter driving blindly through the night. putting back into miami safely the next morning, this boat with sale another day. 900 miles of coastline ahead to choose from, they are beginning to wonder if they are being followed. >> hurricane betsy is taking a northwesterly turn. out from civil defense in baton rouge. >> coastal areas should be evacuating early today before escape routes are cut off by

rising waters. >> offshore oil rigs are abandoned. a quarter of a million refugees, many of them headed for new orleans. ♪ is new orleans itself, there literally nowhere to go. it is surrounded by rivers, lakes, and swamplands. so, the town boards up and battens down in the shelter of its levees. already the civil defense emergency operating center is manned by nearly 200 people, representing all the city emergency services. stairsor comes down the to hear disturbing news. >> flooding has occurred just to the south. strong, northerly winds. >> we are expecting 12 feet of water in this area over the lakefront.

>> the city civil tense director, charlie goodman. watern we get in shadow -- shallow water? >> i would suggest this. a vacuous these people from this parish line and from the lakefront. -- >> lake poncho train , hurricane wind will scoop the lake clear over the levy. the mayors warning goes out. >> if you look out on the boulevard you will find public service. >> in one place in particular the news strikes home. now jeany six years has been half paralyzed by polio, dividing days and nights between an iron lung and a

rocking bed. both needed every day to keep the life in his body. if hurricane winds knock out the pile -- power lines, the equipment to stop. he will have no chance of escape. >> let me talk to henry for a minute. >> she called her brother for help. >> gene is in the hospital this afternoon. i was wondering if you or the other authorities could help. that would be ok, as soon as he gets home from work. >> other distress calls are pouring into the distress center. >> we want any available to report to 2000 tulane avenue. gasoline for your

auxiliary generator? all right, we will try to get you put together. >> can you not get her to a hospital? hold on, we will get a doctor on the line. jones,doctor is rodney the city health director. he calls a frightened young father to tell him how to deliver his first baby without training. too late under rising winds, the phone lines have already gone dead. time is growing short. lauren is getting her husband ready for the trip to the hospital. and into thed wheelchair, getting him dressed and worrying over what's keeping her brother. when will they get off work and get here?

finally, time to go, out towards the door. and then goodbye, the baby, the family, the sun and the wife. to escape the flood they will all be going to assist the department in another, safer part of town in the southeast quarter of new orleans. now betsy roars down, closing up bourbon street, unpredictable to the last. litton saysther the

that the eye of the hurricane may pass west of the city, rather than the east. a last-minute reprieve, probably bad news somewhere else. >> no one else can reach you. have you heard anything about the woman with the baby? have you heard anything about the woman in labor? >> no word yet, but bad news elsewhere. the hurricane has come sweeping up the delta. >> i don't know how to stay on this live. >> tell us the situation. >> the greater part of it must be right here, right now. i'm telling you, she's glowing and she's shaking. >> at 11:46, all the power fails

and the wind gauge blows off the roof. falling trees are knocking out telephone lines all over town. but not until dr. jones finally gets the word. >> that woman that you were worried about had her baby engine is doing fine. >> by midnight, betsy is overwhelming the city. just pushing 150 miles per hour. flowing wildly in the wind. -- blowing wildly in the wind. baton rouge is next in line. wind in the baton rouge area is increasing in philosophy -- velocity. >> in this state emergency operating center, the governor and his staff has asked the coordinator and the civil defense director to work with

the red cross, public health, and salvation army. welfare groups and the national guard. emergency calls are coming in from all over the state, including one from national guard headquarters in new orleans. >> baton rouge. >> now we are in the jackson barracks. >> you are kidding. >> no one is kidding. betsy is bringing danger from totally unexpected quarters. gulf,g water out of the the greatest title surge in louisiana history. levees.the highest roaring across the industrial canal into the southeast section of new orleans. no one knows the full size of the disaster yet. in the wake of betsy there is only darkness and confusion at best. daybreak. devastation.

as the church bells are quiet now. hurricane winds have done their worst. the title surge has topped them. as --etell of the list is the fatality list is as follows. she was swept away by floodwaters in the flooded area. >> people are still being pulled off of roofs and out of the water. >> i felt that this was right at the house. my husband, he ran. he screamed -- tell her to get out. >> it was flooded on the second floor. the water was coming in high.

>> another 25,000 refugees. >> you seem pretty happy. >> my congestion is out. >> i hope that i never see it again. >> it's that bad? >> by midafternoon the presidential plane is on its way from washington. flying out over the gulf, flying low, following the trail of destruction. grand isle, where the hurricane first mandate -- first made landfall, nothing left. swept mississippi, houses five miles from their front doorsteps.

levees strewn with batter and -- battered ships and barges. missing your baton rouge, somewhere on the river bottom, , laden with 600 tons of deadly liquid chlorine. enough to produce more poison gas than both sides used in all of world war i, more than enough to wipe out baton rouge. at 5:00 air force one lands in new orleans, bringing the president, his aides, and leaders of the delegation to survey the damage to see what needs to be done. near thed grade school industrial canal, not meant for use as a shelter at all, they find 3000 refugees from the flood and only for young

volunteers on hand to help. >> how much training have you had? >> about 15 minutes, i guess. >> the president declares both areas disasters. he orders the coordination of federal help. more than 1,200,000 people and nearly every agency of the national government will be involved. down the delta, roads are flooded out. 2500 national guardsmen come in by steamer to begin the rescue operation. coast guard helicopters are flying more than 2000 the sins. the military choppers are matching them. red cross is flying in staff from all over the country. with them to help in this overwhelming task, hundreds of health and welfare workers on loan from other states and cities.

>> the captain has placed an urgent request for clothing of any kind. especially children's clothing. blankets, diapers, food, money to purchase clothes. a refugee city is being created at the algiers navy facility. over 12,000 people will be betting down at the algiers naval station by nightfall. >> we are providing betting and latrines. the red cross is providing transportation. >> officials have requested that all people entering the parish oft stop at the shop because the dead animals in the area. >> blood donors can give blood anytime from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m.. the clinics will be closed and there will be no visiting hours. >> no visitors. no word at all to tell jean if

his family is even alive. in this section the phone lines are down, the water is still up, laughing at the door sills. days thisstraight whole clan has been marooned in a small first-floor apartment. , 14 little monsters with nothing else to do with their time. but relief is in sight. has blownne betsy itself out and is headed tennessee toough new york. i hope it's as an of rain and it when it gets to new york to alleviate their water shortage. >> finally, the pumps are taking effect. the water levels are falling. for the first time in four days get possible for mona to

out and call charity hospital. >> hey, honey. >> the family is safe and coming home tomorrow after all of that worry. ♪ >> so, life begins again. people starting all over. >> we are not out of it. about your family? everybody good?

>> oh, yeah. >> you don't think that this is knocked out? >> we are going to build a levy by us. >> how do you feel about it? >> i always wanted to do redecorate. >> a man who dealt with over a set it.sasters >> no city in the world can deal with something this big alone. it's just overwhelming. >> major disasters in one form organized have to be for. using resources for many public and private agencies. hall,at new orleans city they are working around the clock to meet the needs of their people, fighting 1000 problems at once. welfare assistance for victims of the flood. arranging to fly in the civil defense emergency hospital unit. answering emerge -- emergency calls for food.

job of cleanup. fumigation. inspection. at the civil defense office the coordinating point for this kind of planning, the lights burn late, and endless string of coffee cups with no sleep in sight. betsy's final bill will not be in four months. the barge near baton rouge will take $1 million to raise. engineers are supervising the salvage job. army, red cross, evacuating the sick and the aged in case anything goes wrong. if gas starts to sweep the city. can take care of themselves. and they do. two months to the day since the hurricane hit, they bail out of town in a hurry.

but 602 will rise again. so will louisiana. and betsy? long gone. after 16 days and 3000 miles, whistling out through the woods of northern louisiana, arkansas, tennessee, to die the next day in a simple oral of dest -- dust. over at last. until the next one comes along. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] >> in august of 1945, 70 years

ago, american forces dropped to atomic arms over japan. one in hiroshima, the other in nagasaki. up next david bruen recalls graduating from northwestern university --dieter gruen recalls graduating from northwestern university and joining the atomic bomb project. he discusses government support for science from the 1940's to the present day. this is from the voices of the manhattan project, created by the heritage foundation and los alamos historical society. born onn: i was november 21, 1922 in waldorf, germany. interviewer: where is that? mr. gruen: waldorf is a small vie