New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said today that residents will be more likely to heed his warning and evacuate the city if another hurricane like Katrina hits New Orleans again.

Nagin predicted residents would be more likely to comply with evacuation orders now. He said residents would be bused away from the city rather than to shelters like the Superdome, where residents were stranded in hot, dank conditions for days after Katrina hit in late August.

“People are pretty attuned to leaving if I say you have to leave, so I don’t see that as being as much of a challenge,” he said.

So, it appears that Nagin (or whomever the next mayor is) will do everything to prevent a picture like this, next time.

We can only hope…

Meanwhile, Nagin is doing a little hoping of his own as he campaigns for reelection. That means he’s got to play nice with words, so he heaped sugary sweet compliments on the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, whom he credits for helping the city become better prepared to withstand the upcoming hurricane season.

The work they’re doing is just incredible,” Nagin said of ongoing work by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Corps, which designed and built the city’s levees, has been heavily criticized by residents who note the city survived the worst of the Aug. 29 storm but then was swamped when flood walls broke, inundating 80 percent of the city with brackish water. Many have expressed fear about the condition of the levees as the June 1 start of hurricane season approaches.

But Nagin told The Associated Press he’s confident the Corps is using better materials and designs on the levees.

The election, which is likely to gain nationwide attention, is set for April 22.