Refusal to obey a mandatory evacuation order is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 90 days in jail. Yet the authorities rarely make arrests in such cases.

Officials now say they plan to conduct a thorough review of the Hurricane Sandy evacuation.

“We are going to look at people who left and people who didn’t, and we’re going to talk to them about why,” Mr. Holloway said.

Asked if the deaths in Midland Beach reflected a failure of the city’s evacuation efforts, he responded that the term “failure” might apply “if the city didn’t have a plan and this came upon us and we were going on the fly.” But he added: “A hurricane is a foreseeable thing.”

“We have a plan for that,” he said, “and we’ve done it.”

Decisions to Be Made

Since the storm passed, residents have re-entered their homes and sorted through their mud-caked belongings. They have hauled sodden possessions — furniture, appliances, clothes, heirlooms, photo albums — to the curb for the sanitation trucks to cart away.

Many are vowing to rebuild. Others, even those whose families have lived in Midland Beach for generations, are considering moving.

“This is the first time water has ever come into the house, ” Mr. Owens, the retired police officer, said.

He was standing in front of the two homes his great-grandfather, an immigrant from France, built on Olympia Boulevard. He and family members were tearing down the walls and gutting the first floor of the two structures.