“Who is making jokes about it and why are waiting until know to call for mandatory evacuation?”
Not everybody is making jokes but go back and look at the comments here and on other threads.
As for why evacuations weren’t made mandatory earlier, they simply cannot order an evacuation down there every time the place is threatened. They already advised people to leave and the mandatory order comes in plenty of time for people to get out.
That's theft.
We should be forbidding any development in NO, and should manage the situation by looking forward and building facilities in a more geologically sound area--realizing that constant change is the nature of a sinking delta.