A very good point that bears repeating. Even assuming no hurricane, no flooding, no criminal interference, and general optimum conditions, evacuating the entire population of a major American city has never been done before that I can think of. Yet everyone expects it to happen instantly and flawlessly.
Something else that hasn't been really aired. I know, I said to leave the coulda shoulda for later but it's quiet tonight so....
Plan this massive relief effort for a million people...find places to pre-position the kind of stuff we're discussion here, so that the storm doesn't get it, so that the storm doesn't make it impossible to get it TO where it's needed ( a crystal ball helps here). Ten thousand portolets, 750,000 tents, 100 semi truck tankers of water per day, you get the idea...
Hunker down, the storm is past, and look here!
New Orleans dodged a bullet!
The storm veered east, now all we have to worry about is 160 miles of devastated coast, from Slidell to Mobile. Let's set up at Gulfport for the HQ, we'll need a tent city at...and a field kitchen at ....MASH at....Ok, roll those trucks, let's help those people.
24 hours later....ooops, New Orleans is flooding. They didn't dodge a bullet after all. We are out of position, our plan is totally wrong and we are starting from scratch all over again, 24 hours too late.
See the effect this must have had?
Said this before and I'll repeat it now.
As of midnight Sunday night, there was no power on earth that could have prevented a huge death and damage toll.
A storm vectoring energy equal to one 10 MT nuke every 20 minutes doesn't stop, it doesn't matter if it turns, and it doesn't evaporate.
It is mathematically impossible for it to "miss".
New Orleans may be bleeding to death right now, but the injury was cast in stone before the wind there even became a breeze.