NPR Gretna Story

Is here. One fact that comes out in the NPR piece that you can see from the map is that Gretna does not own the whole highway, nor is the highway a highway to Gretna. Gretna is the first exit on the highway. So we have another question: Why block the bridge, rather than just the exit?

The NPR story also repeats several claims we have already heard:

1. Many people at the bridge claim that evacuees included people in wheelchairs and people in strollers. If helped, they could have continued down the highway without endangering Gretna.

2. Gretna officials say they evacuated 5,000 people over 12 hours before giving up and closing the bridge.

3. Gretna officials were spooked by a fire at a nearby shopping mall. NPR characterizes the fire as "vandalism."