Sal and Mabel Mangano, the husband-and-wife owners of St. Rita's Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish where 35 patients died after Hurricane Katrina, were acquitted Friday of negligent homicide and cruelty charges for not evacuating the facility as the storm approached.

The jury took about four hours to acquit them of the 35 counts of negligent homicide and 24 counts of cruelty to the elderly or infirm after the patients drowned when the hurricane swept through the area.

They are the only people to face criminal charges stemming directly from Hurricane Katrina. Prosecutors say the Manganos should have evacuated the home. Defense lawyers say levee failures and a government that never called a mandatory evacuation are to blame.

I’m not going to speak about this case other than to use it as a jumping off point to discuss sheltering in place. Many people outside of the storm zone understand but do not comprehend this concept.

I was in North Carolina in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo swept ashore. Being young, dumb, and sharp of tongue, my friends and I stayed despite an evacuation order.

Like many, we held a hurricane party to drown out the noise of the storm. That didn’t stop the winds or the rains, though. When we realized that we were in real danger, it was too late to go anywhere else.

What happened to us happens all the time. When you live in an area that hasn’t seen a direct hit from anything above a Category 3, you forget not to mess around with Mama Nature. And it doesn’t help when you’ve obeyed previous evacuation orders, only to have the storm fizzle out or take sharp turns and make landfall other places.

Then, the next storm comes and you wait later before leaving or you don’t leave at all. This time, the dice G*d throws have your number on them. This time, the storm hits and, if you are lucky, you are left with the clothes on your back. If you aren’t, you’re surrounded by the dead and dying.

I liken it best to having the Sword of Damocles over head. After a while, you forget that it is only hanging by a thread.

Life is for the living, after all.