Interesting point, from a reader:

Jonah,
In addition to that note from Junkyardblog–if I recall, there was a mandatory evacuation order given. If it’s so mandatory, why didn’t the city react to move people? Great, so there are people with no means of transport. Like he said, get them to a street & transport them out (unless mandatory just means, “we really think you should probably leave”).
Anyway, I’m not sure how to feel with the federal government’s response yet, though it did seem slow. But a little help from the city/state beforehand would have gone a long way.
Keep up the great work.