When Savannah evacuated, we all road out on those dang school buses. I griped and groused...
But looking at this, I realize just how GOOD our disaster plan was compared to this two liner in the manual that said "If you don't have a car, get a ride from a friend, neighbor or relative" ACK.
And as for the buses not having restrooms....NEITHER DOES A CAR!
They could have just relieved themselves on the floor of the bus as they did in the SuperDome.
If you have a caravan of 20 school buses, you can dispatch a single Police/State Police car as escort and one for the rear. You then can get other Police cars to take over responsiblity as the caravan gets further away from the evacuation area. (And the original police cars return to the evacuation area for more people.)
One scenario for the future might be to allow police cars to carry police family members to safety (turn around point for the police cars to go back, and escort more buses out of the danger area).
In the future, I hope someone will heed the need for changing protocol and on trying to get people out...
There was still enough time to load buses at 6PM and leave New Orlenas by 8PM.
But it also requires people to take tough stands -- you can't let people take pets on a bus during an evacuation. Space is at a premium.
I am hoping some people might view this thread as helpful hints for the next time...