Great comments by a reader named Tully over at Centerfield:

NOLA had an evacuation plan. They didn't follow it. They had the resources and buses and authority to clear the city. They didn't use them. They assumed the levees would hold. They didn't. FEMA also assumed the levees had survived, and set up shop in NOLA Monday before the rain stopped--and were drowned out of their base in hours, costing nearly a day's delay in response. By the time the logistics routes into the area began to open up, New Orleans was flooded and the interior of the city unreachable.

The disaster area is 90 thousand square miles, an area the size of Great Britain with Delaware and Rhode Island and Los Angeles and New York City all thrown together, and all the news you're hearing is about 180 square miles (two-tenths of one percent) of it. In the rest of that area, things are going pretty well (for an unavoidable mass disaster) considering the scale and scope of the hit. But all you see in the media seems to be NOLA.

Apparently the only reason Nagin ordered the mandatory evacuation on Sunday was that Bush called both Nagin and Blanco on Saturday and begged for it. Chew on that one for a bit while you're blamestorming.

Damn near every city in the nation is having food and clothing and money drives this weekend. Do something useful. Go help 'em out.

Posted by Michael at September 3, 2005 11:45 PM