Actually, all they really need to get started is a destroyer or two and a couple of chartered cruise ships. That is what is happening today, six days later.
The delay in evacuation is understandable. The lack of communication to/from State is what I find so disturbing.
Big governments move slow. Oddly enough I was pounding away on this keyboard last year, along with a few fellow freepers, and we were starting to worry about flooding in New Orleans. The levees had started to fail and the bowl was filling. At that time President Bush was just a few miles away from me opening some senior recreation home. What many tried to organize back then was a private boat lift similar to the British Dunkirk evacuation. If you were near the coast of America we could help you. The private rescuers along the New Orleans coast only had to worry about ganstas with guns. The thugs in your neighborhood unfortunately have cruise missiles. You do really need a small private boat flotilla. Probably should not expect any of the Elites with their seldom used yachts, many tied up at Monaco no doubt, to be of any help.