OK, very good points.

I think the real underlying issue here is that there is such a large population on the N Gulf Coast, so few escape routes with such a small throughput, and so few places to stay within any reasonable driving distance, that there really is no practical evacuation plan that actually has a chance of working. This is especially true of the MS Gulf Coast, which is hemmed inbetween LA and AL, and because of the early NO evac, has no resources or places left for its residents to evacuate to. Another problem is that by the time LA and AL residents have all fled to central MS because that is where they have been directed to evacuate, there is no gas left to fill the cars of those going N from the MS coast, who have empty tanks from hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic.