Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to re: Buses

re: Buses
Tom Brosz — (archived)

Look, to cut Nagin a little slack, when the hurricane passed and before the flooding started, they looked like they had dodged a bullet. Had the levees not broken, the Superdome and "shelter in place" routine would have worked a lot better. I give others a lot of grief for trumpeting 20/20 hindsight on a number of issues, and I'm willing to give Nagin a small break along the same lines.

Once flooding started, buses weren't worth much in a lot of the city.

But it's obvious that they did not have a real plan for a full-bore mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. Most evacuations up until now had been voluntary, and those who could not evacuate would not have been noticed under those circumstances. A mandatory evacuation would have to take the less-mobile into account, and there is where the transportation plans should have been in place before the hurricane hit. Sure, there would have been holdouts. No bus driver was going to haul citizens on the bus at gunpoint. But a lot fewer, I'd bet.

Also, if the Superdome was designated as a shelter ahead of time (not sure if this was a long-range plan or not) it should have been stocked with emergency supplies. Too bad about our old Civil Defense program.

I haven't seen a lot of news about the many hurricane victims OUTSIDE New Orleans. I guess the ones that aren't looting and shooting aren't as camera-worthy.

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (82 posts)