And .. they had a gazillion school busses sitting there which could have moved the people out of that area - but the Mayor wouldn't use them because they didn't have bathrooms. Well .. you can hose out the bus of pee and feces easier than you can dead bodies.
The group that grabbed a school bus on their own and were the first group to the Astrodome managed to make it just fine to Houston without bathrooms on their school bus. They stopped three times and pooled their own money for gas money.