How about the little rural bus driver, north of New Orleans, saw the storm coming, went to where his bus was parked, filled it with fourty folks who wanted out, and got them to Houston before the storm came ashore...?? It is called using your head, survival, whatever!! This actually happened and he was interviewed by Fox at the Astrodome.
INTUITIVE!!!!! Thats all it takes.
I'm not ready to make him a hero. He was an early 20-something kid who "commandeered" the bus, over-filled it with desperate people, and showed up unexpectedly at the astrodome. Meanwhile, folks were waiting in line at the superdome to be evacuated and the astrodome folks were still preparing the place so that it would be in better shape and more organized than the horror at the superdome.
That said, it would have been far better to bus people out BEFORE the flooding. The pictures of the unused school buses should be etched on that mayor's conscious for the rest of his life.
All of this equipment, even without passengers, should have been moved out of Katrina's path. These buses are city assets that could be moved and should have ... the cost of replacing, or repairing, if possible ... will be enormous.