In the end the vast majority of the people got out before the storm arrived and the Greater New Orleans death toll will be as a percentage of population smaller than that of coastal Mississippi.
Why weren't the buses sent out to the projects and nursing homes. Why weren't the prisoners-- who couldn't refuse to evacuate-- evacuated?
On their own. It was Bush that told the state to oder a mandatory evac. Left to their own devices, they wouldn't have done it. It was the American people, the ones in charge of their own lives, who jumped in their cars and got out. All the state did was make sure both East and West I-1O were both running westbound. The people he had to evac-- folks in nursing homes, jails and the carless in projects-- that he forgot about. He and Blanco blew it.
You're missing the point. Maybe you just want to be be argumentative.
New Orleans had an evacuation plan as early as 2000. It included using public transportation for the people without cars.
They failed to follow their own plan.