My name is Lisa Marie Brown. I am 39 years old and a native of New > > Orleans. I have lived in Algiers, on the west bank of Orleans parish, >for > > twenty-six years. I have gone through many hurricanes, but have never > > left town because of them. For Hurricane Georges, I evacuated to a > > building in the city that my uncle rented. That was only a voluntary > > evacuation. I would never leave town for any kind of evacuation, unless >I > > lived in a low-lying area. Our flood insurance indicates that we live >in > > an area that would never flood in a 100-year cycle. > > > > I work at a museum in the French Quarter. Because of the threat of > > Hurricane Katrina, I had to report to work on Saturday, August 27, to > > protect our collections. We were allowed to leave at 12 Noon. >Everybody > > wanted to know who was staying and who was going. Well, as long as the > > mayor was calling for voluntary evacuations, I was not leaving. I >figured > > that if the city survived Hurricanes Audrey, Betsy, and Camille and our > > levees were better now than they were then, what should I worry about. >I > > was so casual about this, that when I left work, I went to Kinko's to >use > > the copy machine. I then decided to go to the Vigil Mass at my church. > > The priest said many prayers for protection. He exhorted us to use >common > > sense and to leave town if the mayor ordered an evacuation. I remember > > the day was beautiful. The sky was blue, the sun shone brightly, and > > there was a light breeze. I thought to myself that no hurricane would > > come here with a day that looked like that. > > > > My Mama, younger sister, younger brother, and I live in the same > > house. We were glued to the television to see which way the storm was > > going. Everybody prepared to evacuate except me. My mama agitated the > > whole time because I insisted that I was staying. As long as the > > evacuations were voluntary, I planned to stay. Nonetheless, I ironed a > > few outfits incase the electricity went out. There were many things to > > consider: My mama and my sister do not drive on the open highway. My > > mama does not drive over bridges. My sister was the only one with a >car. > > My brother was the only one who had ever driven out of state before. I >do > > not know how to drive. None of us had much cash on hand. If we had to > > evacuate, we didn't know where to go. > > > > When I woke up on Sunday, August 28, the whole house was in > > evacuation mode. My older brother who is married and has a family of >his > > own told us that he was evacuating to Bolton, MS by his father-in-law. > > Bolton is a small town outside of Jackson, MS. He invited us to tag > > along. Apparently, he has this huge property on which his house and a > > multi-room cabin are situated. I was still undecided. The mayor was > > planning to have a press conference at 9:30 a.m. I would base my >decision > > on that. Shortly after 9:30 a.m., the mayor ordered a mandatory > > evacuation. He claimed that martial law would be declared. I had my > > answer. I started packing, too, but by that time everybody else was in > > the car all packed and ready to go. So, no one knew that I had changed >my > > mind. My mama came back in the house to let me know that they were > > leaving and asking me to reconsider. I immediately told her that since > > there was a mandatory evacuation, I was coming. I packed a few >toiletries > > and the outfits I had ironed the night before. We then went to my > > brother's apartment in Terrytown because we were following him. My > > sister's four door car had four adults and my brother's SUV had four > > adults and two babies. We were on the road to Mississippi by 11:00 a.m. > > It looked like everywhere we went everybody else had the same idea: Get > > out of town now! I had never seen so many people on the road in all my > > life. Cars were loaded down with more people than the vehicle could > > normally handle and yet they were managing. After a few twists and >turns > > and a few stops along the way, we arrived in Bolton, MS around 11:00 >p.m. > > My brother's sister-in-law and her family who live in the lower Ninth >Ward > > arrived in a van a few seconds later. Her entourage had four adults, >two > > teenagers, and two dogs. All together there were 16 evacuees from the > > metropolitan New Orleans area. > > > > After our long journey, we eventually settled in for the night. > > The storm also battered Jackson, MS but at least we were not on the >road. > > In the morning those of us who had credit cards, debit cards, and check > > books went shopping for basic necessities. Everything in Jackson was >shut > > down. We had to drive to Vicksburg, MS to do our shopping. Eventually, > > the electricity went out and it became unbearably hot. So my brother's > > sister-in-law went to visit her half-sister in Brandon, MS. Brandon is >a > > small town outside of Jackson. She explained the situation about the > > electricity. So she offered her home and her son's private room (which > > was situated elsewhere on the property) for us. This lady already had > > four other people living in the house with her. She asked her youngest > > son, a high school student, to go stay by a friend's house. So our > > entourage of 16 people and two dogs left at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August > > 30, and went to live with 5 more people. The family that took us in > > prevailed upon their church members to help us and they also were able >to > > access the main shelter in Jackson to secure supplies for us. It was >like > > living in a commune. We attended their church service on Sunday and >went > > to lunch paid for by them. We were grateful for their generosity. I >saw > > people who were worse off than I was. The church went to one of the > > shelters and invited people to attend their sevices. You could see >where > > the people had left with just the clothes on their back. One woman had >on > > bedroom slippers and was wearing pajamas. One woman's hair was in such >a > > disarray, I knew that she did not have a comb. One large woman had on a > > tight-fitting flimsy outfit. I thought to myself that there were people > > worse off than I was and yet I had everything I needed and more. > > > > Normally, I would give a hurricane three days and everything would > > return to normal. But the news coverage indicated that we would be gone > > longer than three days. What aggravated us about the television >coverage > > was that they never mentioned what happened in Algiers which is on the > > westbank of New Orleans. It was like they had forgotten about us. Of > > course, the more devastated areas should get the most attention, but we > > are still a part of the city. Since we were in Mississippi, the > > television tended to focus more on the aftermath in their state and > > rightly so. We were getting bits and pieces about Louisiana. We stayed > > in Brandon, MS at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, September 7. After Labor Day, we > > longed to be in our home state. My sister and I took turns on the cell > > phone calling hotels. I finally booked one for us at the Clarion Hotel >in > > Alexandria, LA. We arrived in Alexandria at 3:30 p.m. When we got to >the > > hotel, we found out that the governor had mandated that all hotels let > > residents stay there up to two weeks without having to pay out of our > > pocket. She later extended it to a month, then three months, then six > > months. After that, FEMA issued vouchers. We would not have known that > > had we stayed in Mississippi. It was not ideal, but we were safe and in > > our home state. When the mayor allowed Algiers residents to return, > > Hurricane Rita arrived. After it passed, we returned to Algiers on > > September 27. We were gone exactly one month. My brother had already > > returned home because Jefferson Parish residents were allowed to come >back > > earlier. He drove to Alexandria to help bring us home. > > > > Our relatives evacuated to Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, > > North Carolina, Texas, and Alexandria, LA and Lafayette, LA. One >relative > > died due to the stress of evacuating from a hospital. > >