Evacuees Were Turned Away at Gretna, LA

From NPR:

Three days after Hurricane Katrina struck, authorities blocked the road that connects the city of Gretna to New Orleans. Thousands of evacuees say they were prevented from escaping the flooding and chaos, and that shots were fired over their heads.

Rob Helpy-Chalk, who provided the NPR link, also has notes from his own interview with the mayor of Gretna :

I told him I felt lucky he chose to call me, and I hope he and his community recover quickly. Then we hung up.

I can see quite clearly where he is coming from: He thinks he did the right thing, because he protected his people. His problem is that he has too small a view of who his people are.

Rob also has a post called "Gretna Facts," which includes a map of the area involved in the story.