Some prepared to take their chances as hurricane enters Gulf of Mexico
As Hurricane Rita lashes the Florida Keys on its way to the Gulf of Mexico, some newly returned New Orleans residents once again are ignoring an order to evacuate.
The owner of a Bourbon Street shop in the French Quarter insisted the order by Mayor Ray Nagin is premature.
"Where are you going to go? What are you going to do?" he told NBC News. "I'm not going anywhere."
After inviting residents to return to some of New Orleans lightly damaged neighborhoods � against the wishes of President Bush and federal officials � Nagin reversed course.
"Now we have conditions that have changed. We have another hurricane that is approaching us," the mayor said, warning levees were still weak.
Residents who returned to still-closed parts of the city must leave immediately, Nagin said, while others, in neighborhoods such as Algiers, should be ready to evacuate as early as Wednesday.
The city has requested 200 buses that would begin running 48 hours before landfall.
Scott Peterson, 37, who remained in his flooded neighborhood after Katrina hit, declared: "I'm staying. I don't think [Rita's] headed here."
Annie Lewis, 47, who owns property in the French Quarter, told NBC she won't go.
"It'll take a gun to my head," she said.
Hurricane Rita, projected to strengthen to a Category 3 storm as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to reach Texas or Mexico by the weekend, but it also could veer toward New Orleans.
Officials in Galveston, Texas, called for a voluntary evacuation, and Gov. Rick Perry recalled Texas National Guard forces that were assisting Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in Louisiana.
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