Many of these could not leave.
The reason?
Simple: these are the folks who rely on MASS TRANSIT.
I'm surprised nobody else has put two and two together here:
There are thousands who could not leave because mass transit doesn't work in an emergency!
It seems to be beyond quite a few folks that for these people, it's a little more than load up the SUV, grab the dog and cat, and let's go to grandma's for a few days.
That doesn't explain the large numbers of people who were dropped off at the Superdome in cars on Monday. I don't remember exactly where I saw that, but it was reported here on FR before things got real bad in New Orleans.
Many of us have put "two and two" together, and yet others have chosen to ignore these simple facts. I am dismayed that FR seems to have so many posters right now that seem to be void of compassion for these people
The poverty level in NO has also been well-documented and the poor folks did not own vehicles and had to depend on mass transit. I wonder how many buses it would have taken to help these people evacuate, and did any of the buses even try, by offering free rides for the poor people's families?