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