Not that i'm a Lee-hater, but I do believe that the Bridge incident was one of the more embarrassing and disgraceful events in recent American history.
Where were those folks going to go? The only buses leaving the city were located on the eastbank. Parts of Highway 90 were flooded so there was no way buses could reach them even if they did cross the bridge. The westbank had no food or water for those people. There was no reason for them to cross the bridge. All evacuations were taking place on the eastbank.