Friends Michael Weinman and Dr. Ivan Bank of Dallas burned up the phone lines Monday to offer friends and relatives in New Orleans safe refuge in North Texas from Tropical Storm Isaac.
But the two former Hurricane Katrina evacuees who permanently relocated to Texas with their families after the 2005 storm swamped New Orleans were also feeling a palpable sense of relief that they no longer have to make the emotional decision on whether to flee or stay."We're just telling them if they need anything, come north," said Weinman, a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. "Some people are leaving but some people said, "Hey, it might come your way.'''"It's unbelievable that it could hit on Aug. 29 on the seventh anniversary of Katrina. It's eerie," he said."I don't miss having to board up my house, having to pack up and evacuate yet again. For us, we had little kids, so we had evacuated multiple times in the years before Katrina. It takes a toll," he said.Bank, an ophthalmologist, echoed that assessment."What everybody doesn't realize is that we had already evacuated so much because we had kids," he said, ticking off examples like the "Disney World evacuation.""I feel so bad for those people now. I can remember the panic and then the disruption. It always disrupts the beginning of school. It's just nerve wracking," Bank said.Bank spent six years commuting as he established his new practice in Dallas while maintaining his New Orleans clinic."I sold everything in New Orleans last year. What a sense of relief. I feel bad for the guy who bought me out because he faces all the stress and anxiety that I once had," he said.Weinman, who still has an office in New Orleans with a partner, said he has no regrets about settling in Texas."I still have a hand there but I'm happy to be here," he said."My wife and I got a lot of grief from friends who committed to rebuild. But we realized it wasn't so much about us, it was about them having to be 110 percent about being there," he said."We did feel a little guilty. But we feel relieved to not be looking over our shoulder," Weinman said. "We're fully ensconced in the fabric of Texas. It has been wonderful to us; it's a great place to raise kids."Bank's family has also thrived with the move."We love Dallas. Even our daughter who just finished graduate school is coming back to Dallas. She's 24 and there are more opportunities here," he said.Weinman and Bank believe New Orleans is much better prepared than it was before Katrina."It's a different animal now. People have generators and they are better prepared. There's a master plan, a real plan," Weinman said. "When people rebuilt, they built with concrete or put their homes on stilts."I think everyone has a secondary option, meaning they have somewhere to go," he said.For now, his friends and family in New Orleans are staying calm.After all, it's still New Orleans."A lot of people plan on having a barbecue and having a couple of drinks and riding it out," Weinman said.Steve Campbell, 817-390-7981.
Isaac not expected to bring rain or evacuees to North Texas
Interactive Map | View the storm's projected course
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