It is 9:44am CDT. The eye of a category 5 hurricane is forecast to be over New Orleans by 1am CDT tomorrow. They are just now ordering the evacuation. This leaves people around 14 hours. At least one interstate through the city (I-10) is at total gridlock, with the mandatory evacuation order now adding to the overall traffic in the city. The Director of FEMA has said that agency evacuation models require 48-72 hours for a city of this size, also that it requires the Governor and Mayor to order it. Major traffic jams can easily last over 14 hours.
Crazy, that mayor and governor. During the last two hurricanes headed in the direction of Alabama (Ivan, Dennis), Gov. Riley ordered I-65 closed and all lanes headed northbound as an evacuation route.
And that's fourteen hours till the (current) 170+ winds hit. How much shorter until winds that work against evacuation come on shore? I can't begin to tell you how disgusted I am with that mayor and governor.