Yes, but from what I've read and seen, certain local operations, even of large companies, kept insisting that they had to continue normal operations until the local govt started ordering evacuations. We all know what happened there.
I work in a highrise in downtown Houston. The crackheads who run my company told us we won't shutdown until noon on Friday. I told them to remember what traffic will be like. Geez, anybody looking for a good IT guy out there?
That's their excuse. They have a plan. The plant my brother works in is across the highway from the Gulf. They don't wait for the government to tell them to shut down but when the forecast meets their requirements to shut down. It's all about the bottom line. They shut down when it will cost more to keep running than to secure the plant and evacuate. This plant is in a community that was wiped out from Audrey and the workers will not stay on the job. Those workers leave and take care of their family first.
Rita is a Cat 4/5 72 hours before landfall. Katrina did not become a Cat 4 until less than 48 hours before landfall. I know that the local governments have screwed up but with Rita the truth is they actually do have more time to prepare and get out. I have heard that lower parishes did evacuate 99% of the population. Getting back into the plants to get them back online was a problem due to the plants being under water. Again, they found two dead cows on TOP of a 40ft. pipe rack not to mention structures that were supposed to withstand cat 4/5 winds crumpled and tossed about like paper. Katrina was a b*tch of a storm any way you look at it.