SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Santa Maria resident Angie Bolden ponders the impending arrival of another powerful storm in the Gulf Coast region and toward her childhood home of New Orleans.
"The mayor [of New Orleans] is going to give them notice about a mandatory evacuation, that everyone is going to have to leave the city, and he's making hotel arrangements for the people that are there now", Bolden says, "its like deja vu all over again."
Bolden's mother and sisters were forced to evacuate their homes in New Orleans seven years ago after the devastating wrath of hurricane Katrina.
"I remember when I watched it on the news how people were on the bridge hollering out for help, and nobody seemed to come help them", Bolden says reflecting on the terrible days after Katrina made landfall, "I had never witnessed anything like this before you know, it was really hurtful for me, I had tears in my eyes."
Bolden says her mom and sisters are ready to flee their homes from Isaac if necessary.
"She said I'm not leaving right now, until they say so you know", Bolden says about her mother after speaking to her on the phone, "but if they have to leave they already have the car all gassed up, and everything else, she said, we already have the car gassed up, so if we have to leave, we are leaving together, I have three sisters in New Orleans, so they are all going to trail one another out of there as soon as they can."
Bolden says she's watching broadcast and digital coverage of Isaac's approach to the Gulf coast and staying in contact with her family, as much as she can for as long as she can.
