The Governor of Louisiana evacuated 90% of the region’s vulnerable population in an evacuation that was the most successful ever of its magnitude. Those who stayed could not or would not leave and it’s true that the City of New Orleans lacked a comprehensive plan for them. But even a 100% evacuation would have not have altered the destruction of the flooding.

According to a 2007 study by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the majority of the damage from the flooding is due to the levees failing. And this majority figure is property loss only (residential and commercial capital) and does not consider damage to infrastructure and public utilities. [page 39]