New Orleans’ current situation immediately reminded me of Galveston, Texas, The City That Raised Itself From the Dead.
In I Still Hear Your Sea Winds Blowing, Jesse Walker explains the political ramifications of Galveston’s destruction in 1900:
The old local government was abandoned, and a business committee took control of the reconstruction effort. In the wake of that success, the businessmen devised a new government modeled on the corporation, with five commissioners running the town.The new plan quickly spread across the country, paving the way for the commission-manager model that then supplanted it in the hearts of Progressive Era reformers.