Forced Evacuation responses:

"These people don't understand they're putting themselves in harm's way," said New Orleans Police Superintendent P. Edwin Compass.

"I don't have any information, though I have felt safer here than going anyplace else," she said. "The people who knew us left us behind. They were more concerned about their cars and dogs than us."

"If I'm gonna be miserable, I'd better be miserable right here," said Robert Johnson, 58, from his rundown house in the city's 9th Ward.

"They manhandled me and paid no mind to what I said. I ain't never been in no helicopter in my life, or no airplane, and I'm 72, I ain't starting now...I'm not going to get that tetanus shot, so I guess I'll just have to die," she said, adding, "We're all going to die and if I'm going to die, it's gonna be right here in New Orleans."