The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, MA, 8/31:
Exodus ahead of hurricane Gustav more thorough - but some wont go
Nearly 1 million people moved inland from the Gulf Coast over the weekend. The mass evacuation is a first test of a new and complex safety plan.
New Orleans Nearly 1 million Gulf Coast residents fled the path of hurricane Gustav this weekend a sign that emergency preparations among residents and public officials alike, if not perfectly smooth, are improved since hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans and flattened parts of the Mississippi coast three years ago.
As major interstates filled during a bumper-to-bumper exodus Sunday, residents some carrying fridges and dryers in pickup trucks skedaddled toward Houston, Memphis, Tenn., and Atlanta to escape a storm that the National Hurricane Center called a big boy.
SNIP
On Saturday, buses began taking evacuees from 17 points around the city to Union Terminal, where charter buses and trains zipped them out of town. Some 14,000 residents had been moved by the time the bus evacuation ended at noon Sunday. . . .
Yet hopes for a 100 percent evacuation dimmed Sunday morning as authorities declared a noon deadline to hop an evacuation bus. What had been a crush of evacuees had slowed through Saturday. Im a little troubled, says Lieutenant Governor Landrieu.
Complete article.
Comment - makes me wonder how effective the evacuation really is; 14,000 is far fewer than were expected to be "government-assisted evacuees"
-Ross