5,000 Wait On Overpbutt 2412

Matthew Russotto

Yeah, I know. That's got nothing to do with the timing of the MANDATORY evac proclamation, which did not happen until SUNDAY. The one-way northbound order helped get many VOLUNTARY evacs out on Saturday I suppose. However, I did see LIVE VIDEO on the news Saturday evening of a major highway that was flowing northbound ONLY on the NORTHBOUND side while southbound was still handling a few SB vehicles. NB was crawling only. Did ALL highways go one-way outbound or not?

Well, now it does.

But more to the point, Matthew, it matters little *hoe* many buses are there immediately available on Sunday morning. I suspect the school district does not have 2,000 buses, but I would only be guessing. After all, there are only 70,000 students in the Orleans Parish School District. That level wouldn't necessitate anywhere near 2,000 buses. The city's transit agency likely doesn't have 1,000 buses on hand.

In any case, the point is that a bus is no good without a driver, resources, logistics, a plan in place, etc. I do not believe there was any chance in hell that a bus-based plan could have been thrown together Sunday morning. If you were a NO school bus driver with a spouse and three kids and your entire life to try to pack into a few suitcases to escape with a now-mandatory evacuation and the hurricane bearing down, would YOU have dropped all that for an 11 am phone call asking if you'd come drive a busload of 42 folks out of harm's way for the next day?

I think this might lead to a much better plan in the future. Perhaps emergency drivers from higher ground area such as Baton Rouge could ve put on lists months and years in advance for when evacuations are needed from flood-prone areas.