"Ah, so now you think people should be prevented from freedom of movement because of something they MIGHT do?"
Yep. I don't want to travel on an airplane with a small group of young men of Middle-Eastern descent, would you? As a matter of fact, on my return from Orlando this past week, a bunch of irate passengers did exactly that --- they refused to get on a plane with 7 young, middle-eastern men, and they let the airline know about it. Would you blame them?
Having walked out of One World Trade center myself on September 11, 2001, I wouldn't.
Bottom line: the storm was tracked from the time it formed off the coast of Africa until it hit the Gulf Coast, 24 hours a day for the better part of two weeks. All you had to do was turn on the television and you would have had all the storm information you needed. The fact that many people did not heed the warnings and the city of NO and the state of Louisiana are run by complete idiots merely made a seriously dangerous situation that much more dangerous.
I hate to say it, but after living here in the Carolinas for a bit (and having lived in Florida, too)if you don't have the brains to skedaddle when Mother Nature comes visiting with 145 mph winds, then you deserve what you get. These folks had a minimum of 36 hours to get the hell out and instead they took to looting televisions and jewelry.
The Crescent City bridge is not the only route out of New Orleans, I'm sure. had there been better co-ordination of transportation resources under a competent regime, and people willing to take responsibility for their own safety, lives would have been saved and we would not be having this discussion.
Having said that, I've already written a $100 check to the United Way, gave a pint of blood to the Red Cross and emptied my closets of old clothing and blankets and sent them off to my local church for relief efforts elsewhere, so please don't try to paint me as being a heartless S.O.B.
So for many of them, it wasn't that they didn't evacuate for being unwilling to leave. They had no way to get out. Which makes this a very different case than someone who stayed in Gulfport when they had a car to get out.