NATCHEZ &045; When Alvin LaCoste Sr. and his wife Mary decided to stay in their French Quarter house as Hurricane Katrina blew across New Orleans, they didn’t think they would end up living on the equivalent of a deserted island.

But as the floodwaters began to fill up the city, it took less than two days for the retired couple to realize they should leave.

The electricity was out, clean running water was questionable and food was scarce.

&uot;We wouldn’t be able to bathe and wash dishes and would eventually run out of food,&uot; Alvin said, sitting in the living room of his daughter Pat Tumminello’s Natchez house Thursday afternoon.

Originally, the couple had decided they would stick it out in their 1830s solid-brick house.

&uot;I had read books that the French Quarter was the highest point in the city,&uot; Mary said. &uot;We were not leaving.&uot;

Sure enough, their house stayed dry as thousands of other houses in the city disappeared in the floodwaters.

One of those houses was that of their son, Alvin Jr., who lived in Lakeview. As the water entered his house, Alvin Jr. and his three dogs retreated to the second story until they could evacuate.

Meanwhile, communication to family outside the city was sporadic, even to the point that when Mary saw a woman using a cell phone from the balcony of a local hotel she called out, &uot;Hey! You got a cell phone.&uot;

It didn’t take much pleading for the woman to call family members with the message, &uot;Mom and Dad and the house are safe.&uot;

But their city was becoming more dangerous by the day.

In the days after the storm, the LaCostes witnessed some of the looting being reported.

&uot;It was surreal,&uot; Mary said, although she recalled one humorous example.

At one point, while sitting on the house stoop, Mary watched a man peel off the plywood from a store across the street. He stepped into the store and then returned with only one pack of cigarettes.

Standing in the street, the looter opened the back of cigarettes, throwing the cellophane wrapper to the ground.

&uot;Then a neighbor yelled out, ‘Litterbug!,’&uot; Mary said with a chuckle. &uot;He left saying, ‘I don’t think it will matter.&uot;

Despite their relatively good situation, the LaCostes were realizing they were quickly becoming cut off from the rest of the city.

&uot;I figured I was safe. But there was more flooding than I expected,&uot; Alvin Sr. said. &uot;We were going to be isolated on an island in the middle of the city.&uot;

After contacting Alvin Jr. in Lakeview, the couple decided to load up their yellow 1982 diesel Mercedes and make their exodus towards Natchez.

So they drove the car with 275,000 miles and no spare to the edge of the floodwaters and waited for their son to make three treks back and forth 12 flooded-blocks carrying each dog to the car.

With Alvin Sr. and Mary in the front, Alvin Jr. and the three dogs in the back seat, the LaCostes set out to leave the city.

&uot;You hate to go on the road with no spare. But, in this case, we had no choice,&uot; Alvin Sr. said.

Making their way along the edge of the French Quarter and over the Mississippi River Bridge to the west side, the LaCostes witnessed others evacuating the city, many on foot.

&uot;They were trudging over the bridge on foot, many pulling their luggage behind them,&uot; Alvin Sr. said. &uot;It was weird.&uot;

Afterward the trip was &uot;a snap&uot; Alvin Sr. said. From the west side of New Orleans, the Lacostes took old U.S. 90 and then I-10 to Baton Rouge and U.S. 61 to Natchez.

There they met up with other family members who evacuated to the Tumminello house.

Of Alvin and Mary’s eight children, four were forced to evacuate from their houses in New Orleans and Bay St. Louis.

The LaCostes met up with their daughter Linda and her family at the Tuminello’s and their son Edward and two of his four children. Edward’s wife and his other children evacuated to Texas before the storm.

Their son Paul and his family stayed in the Fairmont hotel in New Orleans until they were were evacuated by helicopter to Texas.

Looking back on the past week, Mary LaCoste said she still is hopeful about the future. &uot;I tend to be an optimist,&uot; she said. &uot;(Despite the destruction) I keep finding surprises.&uot;