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The truth is, the mayor and the governor were touting a bogus number of pre-storm evacuees. They really had no idea how many had left. Most of us who were watching the highway cams on storm weekend could see that the roads never got really got backed up until the last minute and their own reports made it clear that the area could not be evacuated in less than 72 hours. It just did not seem possible that most of the citizens had left.

People there have been taught vertical evacuation as an acceptable alternative to leaving for years and that's what hundreds of thousands chose this time. In the downtown core, countless people have been hiding in buildings waiting for the grownups to get there and take them out.

I find it hard to believe that the mayor did not have a better idea that so many were there especially since the area housed so many low income people who were not offered help in evacuating and would never leave unless they were taken out. He needed to fess up and notify the feds so that they could ramp up faster. Even with that extra notice, they would not have been able to get them all out quickly, but it certainly would have helped.

Bottom line...When the bulk of your emergency plan is simply "get out", your plan is only a success if most actually get out and why it's in your best interest to just say that most got out even if they didn't. When the storm is not too bad, you get to claim how well your plan worked and no one really catches on. When you run out of luck, the lies float by face down in the water, cling to life in attics and on rooftops, and stack up in your precious downtown core begging for water, food, and a way out. The lack of communication that has been touted as a contributing factor in this mess was more a case of CYA than phone and radio failure.

How many police and school buses did that mayor have at his disposal before the storm hit? He had a good 48 hours notice of coming disaster and sat on his hands. Now he blames everyone but himself.

Good Lord! How much easier is it to load a school bus, 65 humans at a time, than to load a Sea Hawk, eight (if that) people at a time?

Most of us who were watching the highway cams on storm weekend could see that the roads never got really got backed up until the last minute

I remember reading those comments on FR and being totally flabbergasted that the highways were clear after it was obvious that evacuation was the only sane response.
Sure a lot of folks couldn't leave; any number of reasons, more or less valid. But with half a million people warned, the roads should have been jammed by early Sunday morning. And by Sunday dinnertime the roads should have been all one way: outbound.

The figure given, 80 percent of NO evacuated, does sound suspicious.