IBERIA PARISH (LYDIA) — As Hurricane Francine prepares to make landfall, mobile homeowners in Lydia are choosing between evacuating or staying. KATC visited an RV camp off of Weeks Island Road in Iberia Parish and spoke with one man who said abandoning his family is not an option.
"It's like a beer can...It gets rough in there." Lafayette native Kendell Menard moved to Iberia Parish two years ago. "My mother—my mother was sick so we moved down over to this end...So I'd be closer."
"Ok, and you said your parents are pretty close to here?"
"Yes ma'am, right across the four-lane."
Kendell's mother suffers from Alzheimer's and lives in a nursing home in New Iberia. He and his father both live close by.
"Well, we're preparing with generators and...boarding up the windows and--that's where I'm gonna be, over there on that end. I'm not staying here."
As everyone prepares to evacuate, or batten down the hatches for Cat. 1 Hurricane Francine, Kendell mentioned a nearby coulee that could potentially cause him problems.
"This is the canal right here," he pointed, "if you can see it. When it gets up in town, it comes this way. And then when you have a tide come in, you got your salt rain come in and blow in the tide."
Hoping to avoid water damage from a high tide, he and other mobile homeowners have elevated their campers. KATC spoke with one family who plans to remain at the Lydia RV camp and another who hasn't decided whether or not to evacuate.
"We block it up and get it as high as we can, and bind down the front, just hope--hope for the best," explained Frey.
That's why he's taking his chances with his mobile home, and choosing to shelter with his family in New Iberia.
"Watch the weather and your surroundings around you--your trees and whatever--somethin' over you? Get it off of you, or move it. Some people may move out for the storm but I'm not. I'm gonna leave here."
A reminder that as of Monday afternoon, Parish President Larry Richard is strongly recommending those who live south of Hwy. 90 to voluntarily evacuate.
Make sure you sign up for Iberia PINS (Public Information Notification System) by clicking the link, for parish updates and alerts: https://www.smart911.com/smart911/ref/login.action...
