More On the Gretna Story--Updated!Tom Maguire
looks at the story.
Here's my problem with the story that folks were trying to evacuate in that direction: Where were they going? Here's a look at the map:
The red star shows were Gretna is located. The bridge they were trying to cross is the only one on the map. Now look at a little larger map:
See the problem? They weren't going to get far. From what I can see, there are no bridges over the Mississippi to the east, so unless they were planning on doubling back and heading west, they were going to be out of luck.
Here's
the story of a man who did walk out of New Orleans in the sensible direction.
But Stewart, 57, who waited until he could wait no more, walked from New Orleans to Baton Rouge — approximately 85 miles — on La. Highway 61 South, better known as Airline Highway.You can see 61 on the second map, and it does indeed lead directly to Baton Rouge. So maybe the Gretna sheriffs were right to be suspicious of people claiming they were just trying to evacuate.
Update: K, in the comments points out correctly that the people trying to evacuate (especially the out-of-towners) may not have realized that they weren't going in the right direction. They may have thought, I don't care where, I just gotta get out of New Orleans. The Gretna sheriffs might have avoided a lot of criticism if they'd simply pulled out their maps and shown the folks that Route 61 was their best escape.
Update: Appalled Moderate, in the comments, pointed us to this
really cool flood map of New Orleans, showing the approximate maximum water depths reached and the current water depth. It does indicate that the people trying to escape New Orleans from the CBD may have been unable to get to Route 61 due to the depth of the water.
