Tons of bloggers and readers pointing today to this firsthand account of deadly bureaucratic bungling.

Hat tip: Mark Moore with more:

This story relates the “in control” situation that allowed Governor Kathleen Blanco to so cavalierly refuse the president’s request to place all law enforcement under central command. There was some mention last week about a group of “tourists” who scraped up $25,000 to hire a fleet of buses from outside the city to enter and evacuate them. The writers say that the cost of a ticket was $45 each, so that would indicate that at one time there were over 550 of them. The buses never made it because they were commandeered by the Louisiana National Guard when they arrived. The writers of this chilling account were two Californian EMS technicians who were in New Orleans for a national EMS convention and were among the tourists who hired those buses.

The story is a modern Trail of Tears and will leave you speechless. A New Orleans police commander lied to the refugees in order to get them to leave his area. He told them that if they walked 2-3 miles to the Mississippi River bridge there would be buses waiting to take them to shelter. Police and National Guardsmen that they met along the way refused to part with food or water, even for the babies in carriages. The column passed by the convention center where many people, sickened by the inhuman conditions inside the center, joined their escape convoy. When they arrived at the bridge, Gretna, Louisiana sheriff’s deputies fired over their heads to turn them away before they even had approached the police line…

Update: Some are questioning the accuracy of the story. Like Glenn Reynolds says, “Hold your outrage” until it is confirmed. Will let you know if it will have to be added here.

Update II: Reader Tim T. sends a related link to this Honolulu Advertiser story on the experiences of some parademics from Hawaii.

Doug at Below The Beltway details another firsthand account.