New Orleans residents explain to Soledad why they're riding out Isaac from home despite flooding threat

Governments, business and residents in New Orleans and the central Gulf coast rushed Tuesday to complete last-minute preparations to bear the brunt of hurricane Isaac. The storm was expected to make landfall late Tuesday after gaining hurricane strength earlier in the day.

In New Orleans, Mayor Mitch Landrieu has not issues an evacuation order for the city as tropical storm Isaac nears landfall but he's urging residents outside the levee system to leave.

"If your plan is to go, now's the time to go," he told residents. Of course, there are some who are insisting on riding out the storm. Landrieu has acknowledged there is a higher level of anxiety in the city because Wednesday marks seven years since hurricane Katrina devastated the area.

On Monday, Soledad talks with Jackie Grosch, a resident of St. Bernard Parish who has decided to stay. Soledad first met Jackie in 2005 right after hurricane Katrina, when her house was destroyed.

"It gets old after a while," Jackie says of the repeated evacuation orders. "Packing up and taking journey to where we're going to go. You have to find somewhere to go so we decided to stay. We thought about it and decided to stay."

Jackie tells Soledad they made the decision to hunker down on the second floor of their home. Their supplies include chips, dips, Oreo cookies and peanuts.

"We have a generator. We have our weather radio and we have a cordless TV. So we have something to keep up on everything. We were just getting our life jackets. We're going to have life jackets just in case. But, you know, we have our wall now...It's amazing. That's going to protect us because that's where it came through the last time."

She adds, "this is the test. I don't know if it's going to be a true test because they are saying it's not going to be that bad. Of course, you never know what bad is, we didn't think Katrina was bad either."

Another resident, Angela Young, evacuated a day before Katrina hit in 2005. Her hosue was submerged beneath 8 feet of water. This time, she is going to ride out Isaac in her home.

"I have been monitoring the parish officials and listening to what they are saying on the news, paying attention to what the mayor is saying, for the particular parish that I live in. We have Mayor Landrieu. And also listening to what they're saying about the levees. And they're saying we're going to be ok. I trust that we're going to be fine," Young says.

Young tells Soledad she's not anxious about the storm.

"We're fine. We stocked up on water and nonperishable food items, batteries and things of that nature, to help us in case we lose power. I think that the worst it's going to get in New Orleans east is we'll be without power for a little while," she says.

Young adds, "a lot of people are staying. And, again, when I talked to people, they are saying that they are watching the news and watching where the eye of the storm is going to be. You know, everybody is saying that we're going to be ok, so a lot of people have decided to ride the storm out."

Watch "Starting Point" for the latest on hurricane Isaac as it makes its way towards the Gulf Coast.