All day zeitoun and james saw people lined up at bus stops—those who planned to stay in the superdome. families, couples, elderly men and women carrying their belongings in backpacks, suitcases, garbage bags. seeing them exposed like that, as the winds picked up and the sky darkened, worried zeitoun. he and james passed the same groups, waiting patiently, on the way to their job sites and on their way back. what is happening in the excerpt? zeitoun is surprised by the rapid pace of the evacuation of new orleans. zeitoun is recognizing the vulnerability of those staying in new orleans. zeitoun is frustrated by people’s unwillingness to work for survival. zeitoun and james are addressing the needs of others as they work.

The answer is:

Zeitoun is recognizing the vulnerability of those staying in New Orleans.

When he sees all of that people evacuating the city, and the dark skies, he realizes that things are getting serious and that this will be a danger zone for everyone that stays.

source text: from the sketch here given it will be seen, that our good grandmothers differed considerably in their ideas of a fine figure, from their scantily dressed descendants of the present day. a fine lady, in those times, waddled under more clothes even on a fair summer's day, than would have clad the whole bevy of a modern ball room. nor were they the less admired by the gentlemen in consequence thereof. on the contrary, the greatness of a lover's passion seemed to increase in proportion to the magnitude of its object—and a voluminous damsel, arrayed in a dozen of petticoats, was declared by a low-dutch sonnetteer of the province, to be radiant as a sunflower, and luxuriant as a full blown cabbage. certain it is, that in those days, the heart of a lover could not contain more than one lady at a time; whereas the heart of a modern gallant has often room enough to accommodate half a dozen - - the reason of which i conclude to be, either that the hearts of the gentlemen have grown larger, or the persons of the ladies smaller — this however is a question for physiologists to determine. add punctuation to the following excerpt. writing under the name of diedrich knickerbocker washington irving aimed his potent satire at as diverse topics as political rivals such as thomas jefferson to the very ideal of looking back on the past affectionately: a fine lady, in those times, waddled under more clothes even on a fair summer's day, than would have clad the whole bevy of a modern ball room. a voluminous damsel, arrayed in a dozen of petticoats, was declared by a low-dutch sonnetteer of the province, to be radiant as a sunflower, and luxuriant as a full blown cabbage. in those days, the heart of a lover could not contain more than one lady at a time; whereas the heart of a modern gallant has often room enough to accommodate half a dozen