It tells me that if it took fourteen people to get ONE vehicle, then there were a great many folks down there without vehicles, money and means. No doubt there were some people who could have left but didn't. But it's equally certain that a great many people were stuck there, rooted to what little they had in the world and lacking resources to uproot themselves on a journey without a destination, and no money to pay for it even if they did have a destination. Absolutely NOBODY could have predicted the total devestation that destroyed the city of New Orleans.
Just an aside, I wonder if these fourteen people you spoke about took some elderly or disabled along with them? Many people felt they had to stay with their families, elderly, disabled, whatever. A great many others, for sure, had stayed home in hurricanes past and survived, and believed they could do it again.
But my real point is that, AT THIS TIME, with a city in ruins, hundreds of thousands of people suddenly jobless and homeless, bodies still floating in the city, people still dying, buildings still burning and others still waiting to be rescued, nobody should be pointing fingers at them and blaming them for this natural disaster and subsequent tragic events. For them the world was indeed coming to an end, their world. This no doubt brought out the worst in many people who decided to loot. This is just not the time for blaming the people still suffering.
What it tells you is wrong. The description I gave you is exactly as it happened. The fourteen of them left in FIVE vehicles. And yes, among the fourteen there was a 74 year old man. And I didn't blame them at all, I did exactly the opposite, I heralded them for getting out no matter what.