Quote: when did they issue the warning to NO that they would be taking a direct hit? was it enough in advance for FEMA or locals to plan and execute evacuation of the areas expected to be hit?
First off, New Orleans didn't take a direct hit. In fact it actually got a MUCH WEAKER hit than NOAA was saying it would since it moved much more eastward than anticipated causing the significantly stronger east side of the eye-wall to hit about 50 miles east of New Orleans.
Secondly, NOAA was predicing a hit that would cause Category 3 Winds and Surge (which the NO Disaster Management Agency knew had a good chance of causing levee failure) by 10am on Saturday morning -- that's, quite simply, as good as it gets for hurricane prediction. By 10pm Saturday evening they were predicting a 26% chance of a direct hit within 48 hours -- that's the single highest percentage on their strike probabilty chart.
Nagin did nothing. However neighboring parishes began mandatory evacuations -- a full 24 hours before Nagin authorized them in New Orleans proper. Other leaders could take the hint.
By 10am Sunday morning, 24 hours before the hit, NOAA issued an unprecedented advisory that said, quote "MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER and "WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.. (Caps emphasis is their own, as all advisories are in).
Only then with absolute dire predictions from NOAA, did Nagin issue a mandatory evacuation and execute the plans laid out by the New Orleans Disaster Management Office -- too little, too late.
Don't even try to make it out like NOAA didn't do their part. They did all they could with the best technology and experience available on this planet to predict the storm accurately and get the people of New Orleans to evacuate, finally taking the unprecendented step of putting essentially Doomsday language into their Advisory hoping they'd finally take the hint.
