Have The 2 Million NOLA Evacuees Made It Back To Their City?......

With the emphasis since Tuesday on the convention after Gustav fizzled - I haven't really heard any accounts of the people coming back to NOLA. I think I heard at first that they were telling people to stay away until they were told it was ok to come back. Did they get the nod to return yet? Is so - have they? And how is this return to NOLA going? Are people being loaded on planes for the ride back? What's going on? And what if IKE or Josephine track into the Gulf - will we see a replay of the evacuation again or because the RNC is over - won't they care this time?

With two more hurricans staring them in the face, they may decide the weather's much nicer in Houston and Dallas.

That caused a lot of anger and will do nothing but make people less likely to evacuate next time.

... to evacuate next time, it's the fact that they evacuated at all. It is a big headache to leave town. But if you have the means, once you are out, a day or two extra is a relatively small deal. There were power lines and trees down all over town, no power in most places, and the canals were still receding (especially the Industrial Canal).

It's also, speaking from direct experience, creeping complacency. But more than that; you factor in the relative risks to upsetting your life yet again (for probably little reason and sometimes at financial loss). Real world considerations come into play. You also put your trust in the flood protection around you that is supposed to work (moreso now, although things are "in progress" and they came awfully close to another catastrophic 9th Ward flood)

I firmly believe you should evacuate when there is significant risk to life & limb, and there was this time (and there may be for Ike if it enters the Gulf). I myself would do so in most cases, having experienced one too many Cat 3 recently. But the fact of the matter is less and less will. It's the same situation as it always was... some people have jobs, can't afford transport, weigh the costs, decide to stay.

The only real difference this time was that there were better plans in place to get some of the elderly/disabled and some people without transport out ahead of time this time (thanks to an influx of federal $$$... this kind of thing would break an economically strapped city like New Orleans). Still, many thousands stayed (despite the "mandatory" evacuation), and there is no way to get them all out; especially on what may end up being a "semi-regular" basis. That will always be the case.

The city's population was < 500,000 in 2003.