Quote Originally Posted by AdrianII
Once again: eighty percent made it, no matter how many difficulties you perceive. And perhaps another ten percent would have made it if...
And ~10% were in fact moved to shelters by buses/foot traffic in the time available. And 10% couldn't/wouldn't get out in the time available. So what is the point? Unless you had the bus plan worked out well in advance and brought in many OUTSIDE buses (meaning it was not local) and had plenty of people to facilitate moving people onto the buses...you still had a huge problem. You also have to move past "mandatory" to "forced" requiring lots of outside law enforcement. Whether you leave behind 10 or 20% you still have a massive number left behind, and you must be planning to supply them promptly until you can evacuate them.
Of course we are speaking in normative terms. If you have a President who declares that 'nobody had expected those levees to break' it becomes a whole different game.
There were plenty including the President and his appointees who seem to have ignored the obvious. I expected much of the city to be swamped on landfall--fortunately the track shifted East and the storm weakened a little. I still think New Orleans was comparitively "lucky" with regards to the storm iteslf. That is why the poor response to the easily foreseen flooding is so frustrating and frightening. This could have been far worse, and nobody outside was prepared except the Coast Guard.