NEW ORLEANS – The Mississippi River’s fickle flooding is testing the patience of residents, some of whom were returning to their homes after being driven away by the threat of rising water, while others are still being kept away as inspectors try to ensure the structures are sound.
Sheree Sanders, 39, her husband and their two children had heeded a mandatory evacuation but returned to their home near Krotz Springs. They are keeping their bags packed just in case.
The parish president “may have jumped the gun, but his job is to protect us,” she said Monday. “It cost people a lot of money.”
Sanders runs a tanning salon out of a metal building on her property. She hauled that structure out of the evacuation zone and moved it back Saturday, but many of her regular customers have left town.
“I’m not angry about it by any means, but I’m frustrated with the lost wages,” she said.