Actually, all the plans that have been worked up say it can be done in 72 hours.
That is, of course, if you IMPLEMENT the plan.
As far as I can see, the NO plan was "It Will Turn."
The amended plan is, It Will Turn, and if it doesn't, Blame Bush.
Not at all. The National Hurricane Center et al as late as Saturday night had this storm centered on Mobile/Pensacola. There was an overnight jog to the west that re-oriented this storm on NOLA and the local governments reacted immediately Sunday morning calling for a complete and total evacuation.
It seems that the 'American Way' of late is that when bad things happen we seek someone to blame. I think that in this instance that is not only a waste of effort, but in fact counter-productive. The leaders who are in place, duly elected by their constituents, need and deserve our support to mitigate the damage and save lives. Save the blame mongering for a more appropriate time - and with the perspective of time you may find it is not appropriate at all.
Look what happened in the Twin Towers on 9/11. Those buildings were designed to be completely evacuated in a certain period of time, but nobody anticipated the loss of multiple stairways and the blockage of stairways due to people with limited mobility, firefighters trudging UP the stairs, etc.
A number of government agencies were involved in some high-level disaster planning in New York City after 9/11, and right in the middle of our work they had a chance to see "emergency response" in action -- when the entire New York region had to cope with the famous blackout of August 2003. Trust me on this one -- it never works out the way you anticipate, and the bedlam associated with that scene was proof of that. And that was a relatively minor "inconvenience" more than a "disaster." People are pretty much on their own for the first 12-24 hours (if not longer) after a major disaster like this.
And for those among us who are so focused on the use of boats from all over the planet to rescue people stranded in their homes in New Orleans, I'll add this little piece of information from my background . . . these boats represent a hidden danger lurking behind the scenes here. The biggest problem the disaster response teams is going to face is refueling these boats, and perhaps even rescuing people who went out to rescue others.
OMG .. I just heard on CNN that someone had jumped to their death in the Super Dome