By Dan Klepal
Enquirer staff writer
Tens of thousands of people from the Florida panhandle to New Orleans continued fleeing Hurricane Ivan on Wednesday, and Michelle Lentz Gerl knows first-hand what they're running from.
Gerl, of Villa Hills, was in Jamaica last week with her husband, Kevin, celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary when Hurricane Ivan "wobbled" west and set its eye on Negril, the small resort town where the couple was staying.
Ivan was a blip on the radar screen when the Kentucky couple landed on the island Sept. 3. By Sept. 9, their flight out the next day had been canceled, and they were stuck through the weekend without water or electricity, huddled in the hotel's piano bar with about 160 other guests.
"We couldn't see outside, but we heard trees snapping, and other giant noises," Gerl said. "It was absolutely terrifying, and we felt very helpless."
That helpless feeling is what Mike Klonne was running from as he and his wife, Susan Lee-Klonne, drove north on Interstate 65 in Alabama on Wednesday. All four lanes were open only to northbound traffic, in effect making the highway a one-way street headed away from Ivan's dangerous winds, 12-foot waves and torrential rain.
Klonne lives in Anderson Township, but his wife of 21/2 years has a house in Daphne, Ala., on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. The Klonnes decided to stay with friends in Atlanta after seeing a computer model that had the storm heading directly to Mobile Bay.
"We boarded up with 5/8-inch plywood and moved some stuff around in the house in case the wood doesn't hold," Klonne said. "None of it may matter."
That's because there will be trouble everywhere along the Gulf Coast, no matter where Ivan, a Category 4 storm, lands. Hurricane-force winds extend out 105 miles from the storm's center.
Computer models aside, the wind speed is all Lee-Klonne needed to know.
"With winds at 140 (mph), we just didn't want to mess with it," she said. "I know the house will have damage, and that breaks my heart. It breaks my heart for the area, too. It's one of the loveliest places you'll ever go to, with huge oak trees and Spanish moss. But it's not worth our lives."
Those computer models showing the storm's path were good news for Jason Giroir's family in New Orleans. It apparently will be spared a direct hit, which would have been devastating to a city that sits about 8 feet below sea level.
Giroir, who lives in Madeira, said his brother and sister-in-law decided to leave the city Tuesday. They began driving in the morning and six hours later found themselves in Baton Rouge - a distance of about 100 miles.
"My dad - I wouldn't say he's a stubborn man - but he's lived there his whole life and he decided to stay," said Giroir, 27, who moved to Hamilton County to work at Procter & Gamble - but has his wedding planned for New Orleans in October.
"I'm worried, but it looks like unless the storm turns in the next couple of hours, it won't veer right into New Orleans."
St. Luke team helps
While most people are driving away from the Gulf Coast, 19 members of the St. Luke Hospital Disaster Medical Assistance Team from Northern Kentucky are heading into the storm. 
