On an email list that I am on, someone asked why people in New Orleans didn't leave when they had the chance.
This is the reply from someone who lived and New Orleans, who has/had family in New Orleans, and who plans to go back to New Orleans.
Please continue reading behind the fold.
Thank you.
There were a series of circumstances that caused so
many people to delay leaving or try to hunker down
1. The city had evacuated twice. Neither storms hit
the city and no damage occurred. Remember each time
you evacuate it costs MONEY.
2. It was a non-pay week. The hurricane came on a
weekend that hourly workers would not be paid. You
need MONEY to evacuate.
3. People who were afraid to ride it out at home and
could not evacuate were told to go to the Super Dome.
They did just that. NO provisions were made for them
at the Super Dome because the City did not want ANY
shelters in the city but did very reluctantly allow
the Super Dome as a shelter of last resort.
The City decided NOT (even after the racist Times
Picayune Newspaper asked, no begged them) to use its
city buses to move them and residents out of the city.
Nor did the city insist that the school board use its
fleet of buses to do the same. ALL city and school
buses flooded in the very neighborhoods (where the bus
barns were located) that could have used them.
4. Very little damage occurred to the city from the
hurricane. My sister who did stay said other than roof
and awning damage nothing much happened. It was the
FLOOD that cause the massive amount of damage which
made the majority of the city homeless and a serious
drain on tax dollars.
5. Even the people who left early (Friday) did not
believe that they would not be in their homes on
Monday cursing about no electricity, getting a spot in
the roofing line, sweeping leaves, gathering tree
branches and calling their extra car's auto insurance
company for a namby pamby amount of damage.
We left on Sunday. One hour ahead of the beginning of
the storm with three days worth of clothes, few
documents and the full expectation of being back in
our homes by Tuesday at the latest. It was on our
experience with storms that EVERYONE made the best
judgment for themselves to leave, stay or wait and
leave later. Other than a few nuts on tv most people
would rather not experience a storm if they could
avoid it.
There were examples of what little help was needed:
1. a black man in the Lower 9 ward saw a 18 wheeler
track abandon on the side of the road. Hot wired it
loaded of as many people who wanted to leave and took
off for Houston. They made it. When asked how they got
gas to get there the young man replied: "We pooled our
money."
2. A young man in the city saw an abandon bus on the
interstate started it up and drove along the highway
picking up folks as he went toward Houston. With
himself counted 51 lives were saved. They too pooled
their money for fuel.
My point is this given a way to leave people would
leave they very best way the could. Not everyone is
brave enough to risk jail to live.
Some people who did go to shelters in the city (opened
later) were still flooded out at the shelter.
For the ignorant self-hating Jesse Lees most people
did what they were told to do. It was government that
can provide massive evacuation assistance who tried to
pass the buck on to private entities.
It was a systemic failure and callousness on the part
of all levels of government that caused so many people
to be in such a vulnerable position.
Thanks for this post. My teen-aged children have commented to me that they don't understand why people stayed in New Orleans. I told them what I knew, but it is helpful to have some real-life stories to show them.
Posted by: cedarwaxwing at October 21, 2005 08:40 AM