I totally agree, especially given that picture of school buses in a flooded parking lot linked above.

But, in all honesty, where were they going to bus these people to? If people hadn't gotten stranded in New Orleans, if the city had gotten flooded and everyone got out safely beforehand, there wouldn't be all these cities and private citizens opening up to them. And if they'd had somewhere to go, many of them probably would have gone there to begin with. But the desperately poor don't have family and friends in far-flung places, nor can they afford to rent a hotel room.