Does anyone know the total number of school buses in the New Orleans school system. Everyone talks about the two hundred shown parked in floodwaters. But I would think New Orleans has at least three thousand school buses in their fleet.I live near Louisville Ky and they have approximately thirteen hundred school buses with a population of around one million.New Orleans population is much larger and the number of children per household is obviously much much higher.I think Nagin or Mayor stupid could have evacuated everyone.
The closest point for physical safety was across the Mississippi to the West Bank. Anyone going North would be driving into the storm. Anyone going East would be driving into equal or worse destruction. So, across the River was the safest option.
That number of buses would have gotten the 100,000 remaining people in the City across the River to safety in about four trips. It would have been less trips if the drivers had been alert, like the young man who stole a bus that had been abandoned on the street by its driver, and drove it all the way to the Astrodome with 70 people on board.
Assume that it would take two hours to get the drivers in the buses, fire the engines and get them rolling, there was plenty of time to make four round trips to high ground on the West Bank. (Two hours, round-trip, assuming that the city and state police were cued in to keep the buses rolling.)
Once the people were safely on high ground, the National Guard (which Governor Blanco did not call up) and the Red Cross (who were ordered by Blanco to stay out of New Orleans) could have taken over from there.
Bottom line, there was ample time BEFORE Katrina reached hurricane force in the City, even given that Mayor Nagin was 24 hours late in ordering the evacuation, to get all of the poor citizens out of New Orleans. Only the ones who were too stupid to leave, would have been left.
The means were there, in barely enough time. All that was lacking was explained in the title of a Spike Lee movie, "Get on the Bus."
John / Billybob