Philip S. wrote:
I don't know about the story you're hearing, but what I'm hearing is that a
heck of a lot of people simply had no way of leaving. Believe it or not, it
really IS that simple. Hell, I heard a woman at the N.O. Ritz Carlton
interviewed. She said the hotel was packed with (presumably well-off)
tourists just like herself, who had tried like hell to get out of town last
Saturday. These are rich people we're talking about, Jay--people who can
charter a plane if they have to. And THEY couldn't get out.

And they re-interviewed her this afternoon.
She was calling from BWI.
She related that shortly after the conversation ended yesterday,
helicopters began to buzz around the hotel.
Shortly thereafter, the hotel manager called everyone to the ballroom.
The manager then told them arrangements had been made to evacuate them.
Because of the high water, they had to walk four blocks to the Marrriot
to get to the busses.
The 300 people at the Ritz Carlton were infectious disease specialists
attending a convention. They liberated antibiotics from the CVS across
the street and gave everyone a dose to protect them from the waters they
would have to wade through.
When they got to the Marriot, instead of the eight buses they were told
to expect, there were 18. These buses were being protected by security
with automatic weapons. Additionally, they had military helicopters for
aircover to watch for snipers.

Someone with influence heard that broadcast.