Algiers - One of the most critical decisions as a storm approaches is whether to stay and ride it out or evacuate. When city or parish leaders order a mandatory evacuation, going should be your only option. But if evacuation orders are voluntary and you decide to stay, there are challenges you may face.
As Hurricane Katrina churned toward Louisiana's coast, she packed a grim outlook for the area in her massive footprint. People scrambled to secure their belongings and there was massive gridlock on interstates.
Ronald Ruiz of Algiers made a decision to stay at his home during the storm.
"My mother-in-law and father-in-law were out in traffic 19 to 24 hours trying to leave," Ruiz said. "I'd rather stay home than go out there." Ruiz was confident his his Algiers point home was one of the safest places he could hunker down,but life after the storm was far from comfortable..
"It was like you died and went to hell, Ruiz said. "We went to the front door and looked out and it was pitch dark We heard transformers exploding in the area, and things hitting the houses. It was scary."
Ruiz says as a retired city employee, evacuating every time a storm threatens is expensive. He says vacation money and savings go very fast. He knew staying meant stockpiling a couple of weeks of supplies.
He followed a checklist on bob's hurricane tracking map..
"I had eight cases of gallon water, and eight cases of 20 ounce bottles of Gatorade," Ruiz said.
"I had first aid supplies, tuna, spaghetti, meat balls, ravioli and a few loaves of bread," Ruiz says he also had an ax to go into the attic on a slim chance the house flooded.
Jefferson Parish leaders have adopted an acronym age for preparations every family should make if they choose to ride it out in a voluntary evacuation: A-Armoring assets. G-Generate homes and businesses. E-Elevate.
Ruiz admits Katrina traffic was a factor in keeping him home. Crammed interstates during Gustav is another reason Chief meteorologist Bob Breck fears people may stay the next time, regardless of risk.
"Mississippi won't let us go east if a storm is coming near them, and then gridlock sets in," Breck explained. "People with memories of the massive trafffic jams probably won't go," Breck says,
"They'll say If I'm going to die, it will be right here in my home."
