A hardened few choose to stay and ride out GustavOrleans Parish was also ordered evacuated, and most seemed unwilling to face a repeat of 2005, when thousands languished - and some died - in the filth and swelter of the Superdome and convention center. Bourbon Street was littered with the detritus of a last-minute party - plastic cups, Mardi Gras beads and packaged condoms - and the revelers were largely gone.
But the French Quarter was far from empty.
Hattie Callan, 36, weaved her way down the street Sunday, a vodka drink already in her hand and it only 9:20 in the morning. She was staying behind to watch over several houses, and she wasn't worried.
"I've got liquor, cash, food, ammo and weed," she said as she floated out of sight.