Many times throughout life I have been in the middle of a hurricane. I have even been around for some crazy ones! However, I never recall having ever evacuated my home because of a swirling system out at sea. Hurricane Ida was the one I evacuated for.
On the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ida struck New Orleans. Thankfully I wasn’t there for the aftermath of Ida as it was not a pretty sight. On August 27th, 2021 we waited in anticipation for the big boss to say we were authorized to evacuate. See, if we were not “authorized” to evacuate we were ineligible for financial reimbursement. Don’t worry! Anyone could evacuate if they wanted, but they ran the risk of potentially paying out of pocket. We were notified very late on the 27th that authorization was given. We could get out of town and be reimbursed.
In anticipation of evacuating, I had already been packing. Bags packed, apartment set up, and approaching 1:00am August 28th, I was on the road headed to Dallas/Fort Worth. My purpose for leaving so late/early was to get on the west side of Baton Rouge before everyone else in New Orleans decided they wanted to head west (or Northeast) also. This was the right play as traffic (according to the news) was horrendous!
Evacuation experiences differed for everyone who left New Orleans. My experience was actually not so bad. Not only had I left ahead of the crowds, but as soon as I got into my evacuation location I was at a pool party with old friends! Maybe evacuations don’t have to be so bad. Thankfully this was a work-funded evacuation and all I had to do was work from “home” (the hotel) and be ready to head back to New Orleans at any time. 10 days later, we were called back.
Returning to New Orleans was a relatively smooth trip. The smell on approach was disgusting! The apartment building, like everywhere else, had lost power for over a week and the humidity, lack of air flow, and water seepage made my apartment sticky and smelly. Thankfully there was no personal water damage (water is known to leak in from the windows when the wind is strong). Some of my items did get warped from humidity and most of my food (including spices) ended up spoiled. Shoutout to renter’s insurance for covering food replacement costs! If you don’t have renter’s insurance, go get it. It’s not expensive.
Not everyone was as fortunate as me. That I recognize. Praise God for looking out for me when I was first looking at places to live in New Orleans. If I had picked one of the two places on my list, I would have had a much different experience. There are blue tarps all over houses in the area and there are insurance claims everywhere. Hopefully everyone gets their claims resolved favorably.
Evacuating for a hurricane takes a lot of legwork and forethought. Would I evacuate again? Depending on where I live, how my house was built, and the strength of a storm, I would likely not evacuate again. Heck, I probably won’t be fortunate enough in the future to have a work-sponsored evacuation. When it comes to safety, I recommend anyone in a strong hurricane’s path get their affairs in order and never take the option of evacuation off the table.
Signing off from New Orleans, LA.
A Couple New Things 
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