Survivors share why they stayed to face Hurricane Ida
What could make someone stay to endure a Category 4 hurricane rather than evacuate? A handful of Ida survivors shared the tough decisions they had to make.
By
Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Updated Jun 1, 2023 9:51 AM EDT
Looting concerns, evacuation gridlock, hotel costs, gas shortages and property repairs are just a few of the reasons families chose not to evacuate ahead of Ida.
As Hurricane Ida barreled toward the Louisiana coast in late August 2021, some residents made the difficult decision to stay and endure the storm.
For many, the decision was not made lightly. Only a year prior, Hurricane Laura had reminded the state of the destruction a Category 4 hurricane could cause, and the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall weighed heavily over the city of New Orleans. Enduring the hurricane wouldn't just mean facing the storm, but also the challenges that followed.
Many in Ida's path were left with no electricity, no water and little way to stay cool in the sweltering heat that was beginning to build. Gasoline became a precious commodity. The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport canceled flights to and from the airport, making for one less way for people to get in or out of the city.
"Can't flush the toilet, we ain't got no water, we ain't got no electric and they told us we're going to be out of this for six to seven weeks," Sandra Johnson told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell at the time. "Man, we can't survive that."
Johnson was one of the thousands of customers in the area who relied on Entergy for electricity and was without power after the storm toppled a major transmission tower into the Mississippi River. Thousands of miles of transmission lines and hundreds of substations were also out of service.
Five days after Ida made landfall, the company said it had restored power to roughly 225,000 customers. It estimated it would restore the majority of its customers' electricity by Sept. 8 -- 10 days after Ida made landfall -- and by Sept. 25 for the vast majority of customers in the Irish Bayou and Venetian Isles area along Highway 11.
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But for some, the decision to evacuate simply wasn't even on the table.
"People took this one serious," Martha Wiggins told Wadell. "This is a serious thing, and unfortunately, I think for a lot of people it comes down to financially. Evacuating is expensive and not everybody has the ability to do it."
Such was the case of Gulf Coast resident Kaylee Ordoyne, 26.
While they had made it out of the storm, the trailer Ordoyne had spent her savings on did not. It hadn't been insured, and without the power or electricity needed for her job at a wireless company, she had no paycheck.
"People will say, 'Well, I'm just going to ride it out,'" Craig Colten, a professor emeritus at Louisiana State University, told AP. Colten studies community resilience and adaptation to changing environments in coastal Louisiana. "But a lot of the time, people will ride it out because they don't have the means to escape, and that, in large measure, means an automobile and enough money to buy gas."
Wiggins added that she believed the memory of and trauma from Katrina, especially with Ida forecast to make landfall on the 16th anniversary of the infamous storm, may have played a role in some residents' decisions.
For Houma resident Danny Robichaux, he and his family chose not to evacuate out of fear of what they would or wouldn't return to after the storm.
"Most people, they left, and we didn't want to come back to see what devastation we had to come and face," Robichaux told Wadell.
"Scared me a good little bit because I was never in a storm where your roof comes off," he told Wadell.
"Boom!" was what Johnson had heard during the storm. With the exterior brick wall compromised and the damage to the ceiling of the apartment unit above, water had started to pour into her living area, soaking her belongings. She was scared to go back into the apartment complex out of fear the structure would collapse.
"I ain't ever been through a storm like this all my life," Johnson said. She has lived in Houma for five years. While her family had left ahead of the storm, Johnson had decided to ride it out.
But while she and others had made it out of the hurricane, many of their belongings were unsalvageable. And for Johnson, help felt far out of reach.
"My apartment is all destroyed and these people act like they don't care about nobody back here," Johnson said. "Everybody needs help."
Reporting by AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell.
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News / Hurricane
Survivors share why they stayed to face Hurricane Ida
What could make someone stay to endure a Category 4 hurricane rather than evacuate? A handful of Ida survivors shared the tough decisions they had to make.
By Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Updated Jun 1, 2023 9:51 AM EDT
Looting concerns, evacuation gridlock, hotel costs, gas shortages and property repairs are just a few of the reasons families chose not to evacuate ahead of Ida.
As Hurricane Ida barreled toward the Louisiana coast in late August 2021, some residents made the difficult decision to stay and endure the storm.
For many, the decision was not made lightly. Only a year prior, Hurricane Laura had reminded the state of the destruction a Category 4 hurricane could cause, and the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall weighed heavily over the city of New Orleans. Enduring the hurricane wouldn't just mean facing the storm, but also the challenges that followed.
Many in Ida's path were left with no electricity, no water and little way to stay cool in the sweltering heat that was beginning to build. Gasoline became a precious commodity. The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport canceled flights to and from the airport, making for one less way for people to get in or out of the city.
"Can't flush the toilet, we ain't got no water, we ain't got no electric and they told us we're going to be out of this for six to seven weeks," Sandra Johnson told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell at the time. "Man, we can't survive that."
Johnson was one of the thousands of customers in the area who relied on Entergy for electricity and was without power after the storm toppled a major transmission tower into the Mississippi River. Thousands of miles of transmission lines and hundreds of substations were also out of service.
Five days after Ida made landfall, the company said it had restored power to roughly 225,000 customers. It estimated it would restore the majority of its customers' electricity by Sept. 8 -- 10 days after Ida made landfall -- and by Sept. 25 for the vast majority of customers in the Irish Bayou and Venetian Isles area along Highway 11.
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But for some, the decision to evacuate simply wasn't even on the table.
"People took this one serious," Martha Wiggins told Wadell. "This is a serious thing, and unfortunately, I think for a lot of people it comes down to financially. Evacuating is expensive and not everybody has the ability to do it."
Such was the case of Gulf Coast resident Kaylee Ordoyne, 26.
While they had made it out of the storm, the trailer Ordoyne had spent her savings on did not. It hadn't been insured, and without the power or electricity needed for her job at a wireless company, she had no paycheck.
"People will say, 'Well, I'm just going to ride it out,'" Craig Colten, a professor emeritus at Louisiana State University, told AP. Colten studies community resilience and adaptation to changing environments in coastal Louisiana. "But a lot of the time, people will ride it out because they don't have the means to escape, and that, in large measure, means an automobile and enough money to buy gas."
Wiggins added that she believed the memory of and trauma from Katrina, especially with Ida forecast to make landfall on the 16th anniversary of the infamous storm, may have played a role in some residents' decisions.
For Houma resident Danny Robichaux, he and his family chose not to evacuate out of fear of what they would or wouldn't return to after the storm.
"Most people, they left, and we didn't want to come back to see what devastation we had to come and face," Robichaux told Wadell.
"Scared me a good little bit because I was never in a storm where your roof comes off," he told Wadell.
"Boom!" was what Johnson had heard during the storm. With the exterior brick wall compromised and the damage to the ceiling of the apartment unit above, water had started to pour into her living area, soaking her belongings. She was scared to go back into the apartment complex out of fear the structure would collapse.
"I ain't ever been through a storm like this all my life," Johnson said. She has lived in Houma for five years. While her family had left ahead of the storm, Johnson had decided to ride it out.
But while she and others had made it out of the hurricane, many of their belongings were unsalvageable. And for Johnson, help felt far out of reach.
"My apartment is all destroyed and these people act like they don't care about nobody back here," Johnson said. "Everybody needs help."
Reporting by AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell.
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