Angel Bijou didn't realize how serious the Hurricane Ida forecast was until Saturday night.
The travel nurse, who lives in Houston, had just begun an assignment in Baton Rouge late last week, where she's been busy caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients. When she heard that the storm could be worse than Hurricane Katrina, Bijou packed a bag and decided to head back home for a few days. She left Denham Springs for Houston before the sun rose Sunday morning. She stopped at a Lafayette gas station off of Interstate 10 on the way.
"When I left for the assignment, this was still expected to be a tropical depression," Bijou said. "By the time I got there, they were saying it's a Category 3, and then the next day it's a Category 4 and it's supposed to be worse than Katrina."
Bijou, who is originally from the Baton Rouge area but has lived in Houston for about six years, said she plans to drive back to the Baton Rouge area to resume her four-week nursing assignment once it is safe to do so.
Amanda Clark, who also stopped at a Lafayette gas station while evacuating early Sunday morning, had been tracking Hurricane Ida's predicted path for days before deciding to pack up and leave with her boyfriend and 5-year-old son. They left from Metairie early Sunday morning to stay with family in the Houston area.
Clark works as an emergency medical technician and is training to become a paramedic. She ensured her mother, who is disabled, could safely evacuate to Florida with family before she evacuated in the opposite direction to stay with her father.
After Hurricane Katrina, Clark said she waited without electricity or supplies for two weeks for military troops to rescue her family. She was in high school at the time. When Clark realized how devastating Ida could be for southeast Louisiana, she decided to evacuate to avoid reliving that scenario.
"I'm exhausted," Clark said. "We've all been kind of stretched thin with COVID patients, just working 12-hour shifts. It's grueling. I knew I couldn't stay for this hurricane, so this is almost going to be a break for us."
Traffic was surprisingly light along I-10 Sunday morning. It came as a surprise to Donna McCarter, who stopped at a Lafayette gas station on her way from Albany to Woodville, Texas, where she was able to book a bed and breakfast late Saturday night.
McCarter was traveling with her 18-year-old daughter who has special needs.
"I was shocked that there weren't more people on the road," McCarter said. "I made the decision to evacuate because she's in a wheelchair and can't get up the attic stairs if we need to get to higher ground."