Volunteer Sarah Roberts carries flood victims to safety after they were rescued by boat from their neighborhood on the east side of New Orleans, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005.
I began to suspect the governer and mayor had no plan when I say the cars heading out of the city on only one side of the interstate!?!? No plan, whatsoever, for the shut-ins and those without the means to drive out of the city. Anderson Cooper showed a picture of, at least 25 school buses, parked together and underwater. Imagine if the mayor had a plan for the school and city buses to line up on canal street or I-10 or at the SuperDome to take those people to the AstroDome BEFORE the storm hit??? I am so angry at this mayor - it's everybody else's fault according to him!!!
Volunteer Sarah Roberts carries flood victims to safety after they were rescued by boat from their neighborhood on the east side of New Orleans, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005.
In one picture(from the AP??) I counted 64+ school buses, all of them in a sea. Don't know how many you can get on a school bus--50?? Had they been used early on to get people out they would have been ahead of the game. Instead FEMA had to assemble 475+ buses from all over the south and beyond. The NO buses sit, unusable, do to sheer incompetence.
I am almost going crazy thinking about this. You give the order to evacuate. Some people don't take you seriously or they don't have a way out.
Why not bring buses to the local elementary schools? People who want to leave can leave from a near-by location. People who weren't sure if you were serious would see the buses and re-evaluate whether their position. Yes, some would still stay, but many, many others would take the hint and get out.
I know this is all 20/20 hindsight, but lord almighty, I don't think they even tried to get the poor and infirm out.