I'd only been skimming CNN and I hadn't seen many of the reports you mentioned. But I had come across many first-hand accounts of reasonably well-off NOLA residents who were staying. As I told niemandsrose, I wasn't sure what percentage they formed of those left in the city, but it clearly seemed non-trivial, and it was at those people that I directed my remarks.

Also, it seems you may have interpreted my remarks more broadly than I intended. As I clarified in comments, I was questioning why more people hadn't left their homes, not necessarily why they hadn't left the city. I acknowledged that there were thousands who couldn't realistically have been expected to go elsewhere but who could've made it to a shelter, yet chose not to.

Of course, that was back when I thought the shelters were reasonably well-supplied and well-run instead of, well, however you describe what the hell they actually are. Many who did eventually leave their homes to go to them might've been better off staying put. It's pointless now to question whether the residents had reason to expect they would turn out to be so godawful or not. The vital issue is that the highest priority for the authorities should be their responsibility to succour those people and they are not coming close to meeting it.