>>>> He got 80% out, idiot. Name another evacuation that got 80% of the population out of a major city.
HE didn't get 80% out, IDIOT. 80% got themselves out.
HE didn't get ANYONE out. Hell, had Bush and Max not insisted, he wouldn't have even told the 80% they needed to leave.
IDIOT.
Just as you didn't understand how disaster relief works and that FEMA are the First Responders and not the city and the state, you apparently don't understand how the evacuation process works either.
Nagin did what every mayor does when a disaster is forecast. He announced a ME on tv and in the press. Cops and firemen went through neighborhoods with bullhorns, announcing the evacuation. He contra flowed the freeways leaving town to expedite traffic. He had people who could not evacuate moved to shelters on buses.
You keep assuming that people who didn't evacuate couldn't only because they did not have cars and Nagin should have gotten them on buses and shipped them out of town. What you refuse to look at is that transportation was just part of the problem. The bigger part of the equation that you consistently ignore.....the one that plays the greatest role in these things......is that the people in question had no where to go. They couldn't afford a motel and they did not have relatives outside of NO.
During the Katrina hurricane threat, shelters in other parts of the state filled up quickly with people who live on the outskirts of town. They typically don't want to be caught isolated in the aftermath of a bad storm. So even if Nagin loaded up all those buses you saw in the parking lot, he would have had nowhere to take them and it would have been unconscionable to let them leave NO without a destination in mind. It would have been disastrous watching 100 buses with people on board taking shelter in some parking lot during the hurricane.
And let me remind you, there was a 10-20% segment of the population, including stupid tourists, who did not evacuate who could have but instead decided to roll the dice.
So just like your earlier the-city-and-the-state-are-first-responders argument, your evacuation criticisms are another dog that won't hunt and they make you the IDIOT, not JF or CJ.
One last thing......you argue that Nagin's ME announcement on Sunday led to traffic difficulties getting out of NO.......well you apparently you weren't paying attention and did not know that traffic out of NO was a mess starting on Friday after the Governor declared a state of emergency for LA. In fact, during his ME conference on Sunday, the already bad congestion on I-10 was noted and people told of alternative routing that might get them out of the city faster.
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Nagin orders first-ever mandatory evacuation of New Orleans
By Gordon Russell
Staff writer
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin called for a first-ever mandatory evacuation of the city this morning, saying that Hurricane Katrina’s devastating power may well create the sort of cataclysmic damage that residents have long worried that a killer storm could cause in a city that lies mostly below sea level.
“I wish I had better news, but we’re facing the storm most of us have feared,” said Nagin, flanked by city and state officials, including Gov. Kathleen Blanco. “This is very serious. This is going to be an unprecedented event. ”
Nagin said Katrina’s “awesome” winds are likely to create storm surges that overwhelm the city’s system of levees, causing water to pour into lower-lying areas. Blanco said the water could get as high as 20 feet in places.
The city has 30 boats at its disposal, the mayor said.
The governor also said that President Bush had telephoned shortly before the 9:30 a.m. press conference began. She said Bush said he was “very concerned about the storm’s impact” and urged Blanco and Nagin to order the evacuation.
“We need to get as many people out as possible,” she said.
Around 112,000 Orleanians do not own cars, according to census data. Nagin urged those people to seek rides with friends, family, neighbors and church members. Those who could not find rides were urged to get to the Superdome as quickly as possible.
Regional Transit Authority buses were scheduled to ferry people to the dome from 12 locations around the city beginning at noon today.
Meantime, to make sure word of the mandatory evacuation gets out, Nagin said that police and fire crews would be driving through neighborhoods Sunday with bullhorns, directing people to leave.
The evacuation order contained exemptions for certain people, including city, state and federal officials, inmates of the parish prison, those in hospitals, tourists staying in hotels and members of the media.
An emergency order Nagin announced Sunday in declaring the mandatory evacuation gives authorities the right to commandeer private buildings and vehicles — including boats — as they see fit.
The mayor did not say which buildings might be seized for public use. For the time being, the Superdome will be used as a “shelter of last resort” for those unable to evacuate the city. If the dome fills to capacity, other buildings could be appropriated, Nagin said.
Nagin said the dome’s availability to residents doesn’t mean that going there is a good idea.
“I want to emphasize, the first choice of every citizen should be to leave the city,” he said. He noted that the Dome is likely to be without power for days — and possibly weeks — after the storm fits, and said it will not be a comfortable place.
At the same time, the mayor said, going to the dome is a better option than staying home. Many homes are likely to suffer serious damage and flood. Nagin said staying in one’s house would be a violation of the law, although one unlikely to result in any punishment.
The mayor urged residents to check on their neighbors and offer them help, in particular senior citizens.
“This is an opportunity for us to come together in a way we’ve never done before,” he said.
City and state officials also discussed the best ways to get out of the city. Sunday morning, traffic on Interstate 10 going west was “gridlock” until around Kenner, Blanco said.
She and other officials urged residents to consider alternate routes, including U.S. 90, U.S. 61 and I-10 east toward Slidell, which had litle traffic Sunday morning.
While officials were mostly concerned about preparing for the storm’s impact, there was also some discussion of its aftermath.
Dan Packer, CEO of Entergy New Orleans, said extra crews from other areas Entergy serves are already in the area, ready to begin repairs to what the company expects will be devastating storm damage.
The storm “may destroy the electrical distribution system in New Orleans and a good part of southeast Louisiana,” he said. Packer said it may take weeks or months to rebuild the system.
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