Great article there. Too bad it seems that none of the New Orleans officials ever read it.
Loved these points on the evacuation for Ivan:
"The fact that 600,000 residents evacuated means an equal number did not. Recent evacuation surveys show that two thirds of nonevacuees with the means to evacuate chose not to leave because they felt safe in their homes. Other nonevacuees with means relied on a cultural tradition of not leaving or were discouraged by negative experiences with past evacuations."
"For those without means, the medically challenged, residents without personal transportation, and the homeless, evacuation requires significant assistance.....Approximately 120,000 residents (51,000 housing units x 2.4 persons/unit) do not have cars. A proposal made after the evacuation for Hurricane Georges to use public transit buses to assist in their evacuation out of the city was not implemented for Ivan. If Ivan had struck New Orleans directly it is estimated that 40-60,000 residents of the area would have perished."
This is only known through Census Surveys, as a aside to all the "Asking any questions other than how many people live here violates the Constitution" types, and is a critical factor to evacuation planning for any part of the country.
They read it.
Also note in the article the estimated time to rescue:
"Regional and national rescue resources would have to respond as rapidly as possible and would require augmentation by local private vessels (assuming some survived). And, even with this help, federal and state governments have estimated that it would take 10 days to rescue all those stranded within the city. No shelters within the city would be free of risk from rising water."