As Hurricane Gustav rolls in, the party rolls on

Some in New Orleans' Ninth Ward toast their luck in deciding to stay

With rock and blues blaring from a car stereo and beer flowing freely, the half-dozen neighbors whooping it up around the stoop of Terry Bahling’s pink house said they were surprised that their decision to ignore Mayor Ray Nagin’s mandatory evacuation order had turned out so well.

The earthen levee protecting them from the rising floodwaters in the Industrial Canal — visible just a few blocks away — was holding up fine, and the storm appeared to be easing. They were without electricity, but they had ample supplies of food and liquor, the latter supplied by a neighborhood tavern that stayed open surreptitiously during the storm.

Could have turned out differently
But they acknowledged that the decision to stay could just as easily have ended with them swimming for their lives.

“We try to have a good time, knowing we’re either going to sink or swim,” he said.