"she blamed the airlines and FEMA earlier for closing the airport down too early."
Back in 1992 my husband and I flew out of Nassau on 8/16, at 6am the day of/before Hurricane Andrew hit. The rain was already starting to fall in the Bahamas and we were in a smaller plane (4 seats across). We were on our planned flight, but it was the last one off the island from what I heard.
I don't know when the airport was closed before Hurricane Katrina, but they may be right about the airport closing too early seeing as the hurricane was only a few hours out when we left Nassau...
Just an observation...
Let me tell thats been a big topic of discussion among alot of us. We could not believe how early the airlines canceled flights. There will be an investigation of that.