What about that school and city bus evacuation... to where?

[roseBudd]

All the criticism at the local level points to the 200 buses that ended up submerged. Yet none seems to answer the question, OK so you got a bunch of people onto some buses and they are driving away from the coast in horrendous traffic...

to where?

A rest stop?

Under an overpass?

Considering how far inland the wind and torrential downpour reached, flash floods were a risk. Considering that the moneyed ecavuees had already scooped up all available rooms in a reasonable radius where would the city have taken the residents who were unable to evacuate?

What good is a bus, when there is no room at the inn?

[jody]

1. I believe the LA plan called for evacuation to host parishes. n/t

[EVDebs]

7. The IEM, Inc SE Louisiana/NewOrleans plan ?

FEMA outsourced the plan to them www.ieminc.com and buses were contracted for but from out of state in most cases. FEMA's site (Sept 2nd press releases 'FEMA urges patience..') said 650 buses were contracted for but a Cincinnatti OH paper and a Hickory NC paper show that 5000 buses were being contracted for. All very last minute ...which looks like the original delay in rescuing the evacuees from the Superdome/ConventionCenter sites was even further delayed by the long distance drives from these out-of-state charter bus companies just to get to New Orleans.

When they did arrive, in a long caravan to the Superdome, it finally looked like an organized event.

These delays are even more confusing to me since state efforts mentioned on a DailyKos site mention Door County WI buses being arranged by the state, whose already limited resources can't match the amounts FEMA could afford to shell out for.

The busing screw ups and the National Guard not aiding the evacuation plan in a timely manner are keys to getting to the bottom of this fiasco. I'm hearing that the NG were held back by *'s WH for fear of being in some sort of posse comitatus police function problem.

* should have just sent them in to aid the evacuation from Day One. Instead the WH chose to dither for a few days.

It's obvious who let the people of New Orleans down in their time of need.

[Igel]

12. Perhaps the state evacuation plan that Louisiana had

formulated a few years before is intended, as an offhand guess?

The one she implemented on the Sunday before Katrina.

What's the good of a state evacuation plan that says, "Get everbody on buses. Drive somewhere, just don't ask us where"?

[JuniperLea]

2. The roads were packed, remember?

So, even if someone had thought of that...

If the POTUS can say "who knew the levees would break" then how is some poor uneducated kid going to know? (I can come up with as many excuses as any rightwingnut;)

Who issued the mandatory evacuation?

[RageFist]

4. And Mayor Nagin of NO issued the evac n/t

[RageFist]

3. Anywhere but the city? They sat stranded anyway at least get em out n/t

[roseBudd]

6. Sitting on a bus during a hurricane that can spawn tornadoes is not safe

not to mention flash floods

[kbm8795]

8. I might be off a bit here. . .

but it seems to me that the school buses weren't air-conditioned and there were concerns about long delays on clogged highways in the heat...and the danger that they may not make it to shelter.

[roseBudd]

9. from a WaPO story on Mayor Nagin...

New Nagin supporter Brown, who lost his home and his wife's business in the storm, said the mayor's hands were tied. If he had ordered an earlier evacuation, and enforced it, Brown said, he would have encountered another problem.

"Where are we going to send them?" Brown asked. "If you say mandatory, you got to have somewhere for people to go. He don't control nothing but New Orleans."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090901767_2.html?nav=hcmodule

[RageFist]

13. So leave them in harm's way in the city?....man sometimes the

left bothers me because I hear nothing but excuses, dammit. If Bush were to say oh we left them there cause the busses weren't air conditioned we would crucify him. C'mon guys, if you give nothing but excuses we all lose credibility. WE need to be smarter if we're gonna win out in the end.

and the "danger they might not make it to shelter" is garbage...many people were stranded in their homes and on overpasses on the freeway, hardly shelter IMO

:nopity:

[dorktv]

15. What about flying those people out?

They needed to check for airplane removal actually. Why the hell did the airlines not offer to send in EVERY spare jet to take people out before the weather got too rough? They could get a giant check from the government afterwards.

That is what I want to know.

[DoYouEverWonder]

16. Nagin executed the local response to the evacuation

and did very well considering. It is estimated that 80% of the city was evacuated, which is an unprecedented number for any city in the US.

Nagin did use city buses to pick up people from points all around town, that was broadcast over the radio and TV. They also gave out an 800 number for people to call who needed assistance.

Nagin also called HS/FEMA and asked them to send buses to pick up the people that they were bringing to the Superdome, which had been opened as a shelter of last resort. Unfortunately, HS/FEMA couldn't get their act together until 3 days after the storm and even then it was a deliberately slow response.

Sorry, pal this one is on the FEDS. The locals did everything they were supposed to and then some.

[RageFist]

14. Did any tornadoes spawn...? Would love a link to the story if so n/t

[On the Road]

5. And There Was Bumper-to-Bumper Traffic

The LAST thing I would want to risk is being trapped in a hurricane in my car in traffic or in some fleabag hotel if there was a vacancy anywhere. I don't blame people for staying or the local government for not forcing everyone out. Remember that all the people who were stranded at the Superdome and Convention Center correctly thought they could ride out the storm. And most of them would have been fine if the feds had handled the situation adequately. Or even allowed outside assistance in and residents to walk out.

[ComerPerro]

10. This is exactly where central leadership should have come into play

maybe, for example, someone higher up and with almost absolute authority in a time of crisis.

Oh, wait, he was on vacation. Nevermind. Not his problem.

[roseBudd]

11. I think it is fairly obvious from some of the reactions is that other

communities would not have welcomed the poor urban African Americans from NO without pressure from someone they could not refuse.