DECATUR - The three-bedroom house James "Shorty" Simpkins built 70 miles north of New Orleans wasn't far enough away to completely escape the wrath of Hurricane Gustav.

But then, neither was his 2007 Kia Spectra parked 700 miles away in his sister's driveway in Decatur.

His house near Greensburg, La., is among more than a million homes and businesses across three states that lost electricity when Gustav hit Sept. 1, with power not expected to be fully restored for as long as a month.

Then a couple days later, as what was left of Gustav dumped more than 3 inches of rain on Decatur, winds apparently propelled a walnut into his car's rear window, shattering it.

"I came this far to get away from a hurricane, and it still got me," said Simpkins, 68. "I just can't win."

A native of Pana, Simpkins plans to return home as soon as he gets access to his money - his bank was among the businesses that lost electricity - and can buy a generator to power his refrigerator and the pump to his well at a minimum.

That way, the retired truck driver can live there with his 21-year-old son, Michael, who stayed and rode out the hurricane so he could keep going to his job for a warehouse company in the area.

"When the electricity goes off, we don't have any water and can't flush the toilet," Simpkins said. "Mike said he was down at the river washing up the other night."

However, his 23-year-old son, Frank, plans to stay in Decatur because he's sick of hurricanes. "I'm tired of evacuating and all the aggravation," he said.

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Indeed, Simpkins and his two sons abandoned their former home in suburban New Orleans once in 2004 when Hurricane Ivan threatened and twice in 2005 for Dennis and Katrina.

Only Katrina caused damage to their duplex in Metairie, forcing them to replace the roof, and James Simpkins believes the massive recovery from that hurricane delayed the construction of their new home near Greensburg, which was completed just four months ago.

Frank Simpkins, who has received food and clothing from the Northeast Community Fund and help from other local social service agencies obtaining the medication he takes for seizures, is living with Schuyler Brown, a friend and former classmate at Eisenhower High School, and is hoping to find construction work.

His dad, meanwhile, is staying with his sister, Shirley Ramsey, and her husband, Orbley, and took a temporary truck driving job Tuesday while he waits to see what Hurricane Ike is going to do.

"I joined the Navy when I was 18 and never moved north again," he said. "I hate cold weather."

tchurchill@herald-review.com|421-7978