Granted, Katrina had not yet built up to a Cat 3 at this point (Friday night), it does appear she was making a beeline to NO.
With the performance of Senator Landrieu, Governor Blancho, and Mayor Nagin, it is fortunate for the victims of Katrina that there is the leadership of President Bush to step in. Competent leaders would have made efforts to protect the citizens of Louisiana at the first hint of danger. Honest people would have admitted that the task was beyond their means and called out for help if they saw the slightest hint that a danger would jeopardize the lives of their citizens. The warnings came not from the actions of Katrina, but from the experts--the meteologists--who could see what Katrina could do even though it was not apparent. Katrina behaved exactly as was predicted. The leaders of Louisiana failed to take heed of the predictions with tragic results.
To understand the jeopardy that was put on the lives of New Orleans and people in the tracks of Katrina, it is necessary to examine the time line of the strength of the Katrina in relation to its course into New Orleans.
Katrina did not follow a straight course and was expected to die out as a Category 1 hurricane. When Katrina went into Florida, everyone thought she would die quickly and go north. Instead, it went into the Gulf and within a day, became a Category 5. At first Katrina was heading toward Texas and everyone thought she would stay on a westerly course. Instead, everyone woke up on Sunday morning finding that Katrina was heading north steering directly for New Orleans. There was only Sunday for everyone to react. Tragically, not everyone was paying attention. The eyes who should have been on the ball should have been moving much earlier.
With the unpredictability of hurricanes, everyone should have started the ball rolling when Katrina entered the Gulf 5:00 AM Friday morning, August 26th. However, as she left Miami (Thursday, 11:00 PM), she was only classified a tropical storm. Everyone dropped their guard Thursday night.
On Saturday, Aug. 27th (9:00 AM) Katrina became a Category 3 (115 mph). Even though Katrina was still heading towards Texas, the predictions became dire. Meteorologists were predicting that she would swing north because of a nearby low pressure area. They also predicted that she would pick up speed due to the warm waters of the Gulf. By Sunday, August 28 (11:30 AM) Katrina became a Category 5 (175 mph). The predictions proved to be true. It was Sunday morning when it was almost certain that the bullseye was on New Orleans. Evacuation orders should have been given at this time. They were not.
On Monday August 29th (2:00 AM) mass evacuation orders were given for New Orleans. Tragically, these orders were too late. Katrina made landfall 10:00 AM. 20% of New Orleans failed to evacuate.
Granted, Katrina had not yet built up to a Cat 3 at this point (Friday night), it does appear she was making a beeline to NO.