I hope that of all the places you could be reading this column, it’s not in a car as you evacuate. Not a week and a half after Gustav. Not after that snail-pace evacuation and return. Not after the power outages and curfews, and certainly not after the mental weight that comes with it all.

We just don’t need Hurricane Ike so soon. We all need to recharge.

But even as Ike sidesteps more and more west with each updated model, my main concern is that after Gustav -and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin shouting the apocalypse as if on a soapbox- people will forget how necessary evacuating is in a city that is still three years away from catastrophic storm protection. Evacuating is a hassle.

It’s slow and expensive, but it’s also necessary when you’re facing the prospect of a lethal storm that can shut services down for weeks on end and endanger your life. For residents of southeastern Louisiana, evacuating for Gustav should have been a no-brainer.

The city was on the northeast side of the storm, which is the most dangerous position to be. Two days before landfall the storm reached 150 mph, a flurry of wind that Nagin said not a building in the city was rated high enough to stand.

But some stayed, and, in hindsight, they seem to have made the right move.

Now most are seeing the clean streets and working lights after returning from Gustav and are saying they’ll never evacuate again. That’s a mistake.

They’re forgetting that power in most of New Orleans was out for months following Katrina. They’re forgetting the mountain of debris in Lakeview and that poignant smell of rotting food, which lingered weeks after landfall. The damages were so extensive that it was an accomplishment to step foot in the city a month after the storm.

What they’re forgetting was just how devastating a storm of Gustav’s caliber could have been.

With Ike, who knows? Chances are it’ll move west and give us some tropical storm winds. But if it does come, and if it does look like it’ll hit us as a strong category three or four, it’s imperative you get out. Otherwise, while you may survive and be fine, you should be prepared to have to pull a “Waterworld” and turn urine into drinking water. It’s not going to be a fun place to be.

Judging by the models, chances are you’ll be reading this column as you sit in your dormitory room or as you idly watch the clock tick until the end of class. If that’s the case, feel relieved.

But if you’re on your way out in a cramped car with a yelping dog and fierce Ike on your back, you should feel relieved. You made the right decision.