As Hurricane Ida barreled into the Louisiana coast on the 16th anniversary of the devastating Hurricane Katrina, many south Louisiana residents sought shelter with friends and family in Lincoln Parish.
Aubrey Simmons, a Nicholls State graduate student originally from Ruston, returned home Friday with her cat to wait out the storm.
“I am nervous and worried for the people I know who stayed behind,” Simmons said. “They’ve assured me they’ve made the necessary preparations, but Ida is massive, and I’m just super worried.
“I’m also afraid of having nothing to go back to. Thibodaux has been my home for the past seven years – it’s a wonderful community – and it’s heartbreaking to know the damage and destruction that is about to happen.”
Simmons said she chose to leave Friday in hopes of avoiding empty gas stations and bumper-to-bumper traffic.
“When this storm started to really develop and we saw its possible path, my mom and I decided then that it would be best for me to leave,” she said. “Leaving Friday helped me to get ahead of traffic and I was able to easily get gas. I am fortunate enough to have been able to leave, but I am sure there are those who want to evacuate but do not have the means to do so, and my heart breaks for them. Thibodaux is doing a wonderful thing in that they are providing free transportation for wheelchair bound residents who were unable to evacuate and taking them to the shelter that has been set up.”
Simmons said Ida running through Louisiana on the anniversary of Katria is eerily similar.
“I have friends who went through such tragedy and loss for that storm, and I can’t even imagine the emotions they and other people in southeast Louisiana who went through Katrina are feeling right now on top of the worry for Ida,” she said. “I really do appreciate Ruston lending a helping hand to those in south Louisiana. I love the support that my hometown is showing to my Thibodaux/Nicholls community that I love dearly.”
Jayne Boudreaux, of Luling, evacuated with her 17-year-old cat, also named Boudreaux, who had to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina as well.
“She handled this evacuation better than I expected, but she’s not happy,” Boudreaux said. “She’s a homebody and not sociable. She did fine in Katrina, but we had her sister at the time, and they were still kittens.”
Boudreaux sought shelter with Ruston relatives, but her husband, A.J., is an emergency worker with Roehm.
“He actually should be in good shape,” Boudreaux said. “He’ll be safe at the plant and have air conditioning, food and shelter. I’m more worried about the house.”
The Boudreauxs home was recently remodeled, and Boudreaux said she wasn’t sure which – if any – of her neighbors had decided to weather out the storm.
“I’m still trying to see who is around,” she said. “I just don’t know.”
