1 out of 5 didn't, and Blanco/Nagin waffled on the federal government's advice.
“1 out of 5 didn’t, and Blanco/Nagin waffled on the federal government’s advice.”
The actions of Blanco and Nagin before and after Katrina not withstanding,I have no desire to defend them, I was addressing the point in your original post that alluded to the sudden warning in Greensburg that was heeded, and the two day warning in New Orleans that supposedly was not.
The majority of the citizenry of New Orleans had the means and the common sense to see what was coming, and they boarded up, packed up and left the city before the storm. Although it makes for an amusing stereotype, all New Orleanians are not lackadaisical, morons waiting for somebody else to do it for them. It wasn’t the first time we have evacuated and it won’t be the last.
Emptying a city of nearly 500,000, and potentially doing it several times during one hurricane season, is no small feat and despite everything it came off pretty well. Had it not, the loss of life in Louisiana would have been much greater than the approximately 1,600. Also,Orleans was not the only parish that evacuated. Other low lying parishes in South Louisiana like Plaquemines,and St Bernard also got on the road. Jefferson Parish, where I live, itself had a pre-Katrina population of 450,000 and we evacuated too. The scenes from the super dome, and the convention center that played so dramatically and endlessly on FOX and CNN were only part of the story. Unfortunately, that’s a big part of what sticks in everyone’s mind.