Why Do Some Stay, Despite Evacuation Orders?

Aug. 30, 2005 — -- New Orleans resident Richard Thomas heard the orders to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Katrina. But like thousands of others, he chose to stay and ride it out.

"They wanted to move, they wanted to go to Mississippi, but I said I wasn't going to go," he said.

"But I should have went, because we got a lot of water here. A lot of water."

When calm returns to an area devastated by a natural disaster like Katrina, it is hard for many people to understand the mindset of the people who ignored evacuation orders.

Why didn't they just get out of town?

"There's a certain amount of denial involved," said Dr. John Stutesman, director of outpatient treatment in psychiatry at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "They allow themselves to believe they can handle the storm."

In New Orleans, many residents said they had no means to leave. Many ended up in a stuffy, collapsing Superdome. Images of thousands of people shuffling around the stadium as the roof tore off will be a lasting image of the destruction caused by Katrina.

Kathleen Bartels, a Hammond, La., resident, told ABC News that she and her family tried to flee, but found they couldn't make it out. They decided to ride the storm out in their home.

"That was the best we could do," she said. "But we're safe and that's the important part."

When faced with the idea of being completely out of control of a situation and at the mercy of Mother Nature, people stay on because it gives them a sense of control, experts say. People also stay on out of fear of losing everything they have.

"They think if they stay, they can protect their stuff," Stutesman said. "And our property can be very important to us. It has much meaning."