"Attention fellow New Orleansians:
There is a Category 5 storm going to hit here in 2 days. Winds of over 145 MPH. Could flood the entire city. Gonna kill you if you stay. Get out, now. For your future safety, we are going to put all our buses in storage to protect them from the storm. If you are old, in a nursing home, crippled, infirm or unable to evacuate on your own, you will need to call a taxi or hitchhike to safe ground."
Good luck....Mayor Nagin
"Now I don't have to tell you good folks what's been happening in our beloved little town. Sheriff murdered, crops burned, stores looted, people stampeded, and cattle raped. The time has come to act, and act fast. I'm leaving."
Just substitute Mayor Nagin for the good Reverend.
"It wasn't until comparatively late, shortly before -- a day, maybe a day and a half, before landfall -- that it became clear that this was going to be a Category 4 or 5 hurricane headed for the New Orleans area."
However, as early as Friday, August 26th when Katrina left Florida and entered the Gulf, the National Hurricane Center was predicting the storm could be a Category 4 hurricane at landfall, with New Orleans directly in its path. The error was the idea that since storms do change paths,the possibility existed that it might not hit the city. Such a gamble with the lives of so many people was one more indication of the callus disregard entrenched in the leadership of Louisiana government.