my parents decided to stay behind instead of leaving, due to the advice of idiots in town who seem to believe that "we weathered these storms before" is all you need. they were the lucky ones where they live, they only lost their car and a heat pump. the water receded right when it was coming over the front porch. half of their town is under 6-10 feet of water and a lot people lost their homes. they have no power, no way to get anywhere, and it could be a week before "normal" returns somewhat. when i asked, "do you have enough food to last a week?", my mom replied in her true stubborn way . . . "well, i need to lose a few pounds anyway." i swear, sometimes older people can be a handful.
thanks to everybody who made nice comments!