Talk about right to life.
Have you ever seen independence day? The movie. Same thing, government underestimates the threat, waits too long, and as a result the people are stuck in logjam traffic and unable to get to safety in time.
The responsible party in that movie was the federal govt. In this circumstance, it was the fed'l govt (President Bush to be specific) that had to beg the Mayor before he relented and issued the mandatory evacuation order.
Mayors dont want to acknowledge that their city is basically condemned to utter destruction seeing as it is surrounded by water, below sea level, and in the path of possibly the worst storm in US history.
The federal government is less concerned about a city getting destroyed as they are about the citizens of that city dying.
Until the president intervened, the mayor had determined to stay with the city. In the process, he abandoned his people despite the imminent threat they faced.