<p>I agree there were buses available. But were there drivers? Was there enough fuel? Was there large scale evacuation sites to take them?</p>
<p>New Orleans prepared as best they could for a hurricane. The breaking of the levees and subsequent flooding was what caught them off guard.</p>
<p>Drivers, fuel and evacuation sites should have been part of the plan. Certainly each of those buses has a “regular” driver, plus there are many city and state employees (e.g., sanitation workers) who could have been trained ahead of time to drive a bus. Fuel could have been stockpiled in storage tanks. Sites could have been pre-determined in school gyms and auditoriums, national guard armories, etc.</p>
<p>It is apparent that NO’s idea of preparation is a prayer and another round. Let the good times roll.</p>
<p>During the evacuation, I believe all roads were one-way OUT of town. How would they have gotten the empty buses back in to town to pick up the next load?</p>
<p>That is not correct. At roughly 6 PM on Sunday they showed a view of one of the major highways. It was jammed on the egress side but the ingress side was essentially vacant with a few cars heading into town. Just one more problem with their evacuation plan - they should have made all but one lane available for egress.</p>