cnn and the AP both have an article up about people not leaving despite forced evacuations.
“The thing is… most people don’t have cars to leave, don’t have money for gas. Pay for a hotel for that long?”
“[Ninth Ward resident Sidney] William wants desperately to leave his native New Orleans to avoid Gustav. He didn’t leave for Katrina because he didn’t have the money. He won’t talk about what happened to him during that storm. “I wish I had the money to go.” Rejected for disability subsidies, he depends on his 23-year-old daughter, Gloria, to support the family.”
““The problem is,” said Pictor Soto, 44, of Peru, “there will be immigration people there and we’re all undocumented.”
and the super scary part: “Unlike Katrina, when thousands took refuge inside the Superdome, there will be no “last resort” shelter, and those who stay behind accept “all responsibility for themselves and their loved ones,” said the city’s emergency preparedness director, Jerry Sneed.”
(h/t shakesville, who has links about what you can do to help. mainly throw money and pray/hope for the best.)