1 Come hell or high water, some people just won't move. With the threat of flooding all around, the only place the holdouts here will go is upstairs.
2 While an emergency edict was supposed to turn Tiel into a ghost town Wednesday, the local grocery store was selling supplies by the box to those daring to challenge the waters of the River Waal.
3 'I hear 10 to 15 percent of the people here will stay, ' said Kurt Vink.
4 He'll be a holdout himself when the 8 a.m. Thursday evacuation deadline comes around. He wants to protect his jewelry shop.
5 'There's a lot of money in this business, and I don't want to get plundered,' he said. 'The jewels are in a safe, but I'd rather stay next to it.'
6 The mayor of this flood-threatened town of 32,000 issued an edict Wednesday afternoon that those who ignore the evacuation order face up to 2 months in prison and fines of up to 5,000 guilders (dlrs 2,930).
7 Up to 250,000 have fled the region.
8 No wonder few of the diehards were venturing out late Wednesday onto the empty streets after most of their fellow citizens had pulled out of this danger zone at the confluence of the flooded Maas and Waal rivers.
9 City Hall was stern.
10 'Soon everything will be empty. There might be no gas, electricity, or provisions. What happens if you get sick? They have been warned,' said City Hall official Rob Verneulen.
11 But some people can't be convinced.
12 Even though Tiel looks vulnerable from all sides, the city center lies a few meter (yards) higher than surrounding areas. And townspeople say the water level would only reach half a meter (yard) here.
13 'Most here say it's all a load of rubbish. This is suppose to be a free country right?' said one man, who refused to give his name for fear of the legal consequences.
14 'Whenever my shop gets robbed, I don't have to go to the police to complain,' he said. 'Now they don't have to tell me what to do.'
15 Alex, a 17-year-old student, had a problem of divided loyalties.
16 His father has decided to leave, and his mother stay.
17 Alex was arguing the pros and cons up on the dike with his friends.
18 'There's enough food upstairs, I will stay with mother,' he finally decided.
19 Some even thought it was party time, like the young woman who came out of a shop cradling a bottle of champagne.
20 'Think of it,' she said. 'At night I'll be together with my boyfriend, with no one in town to listen in.'

" There ' s a lot of money in this business , and I don ' t want to get plundered , " he said . " The jewels are in a safe , but I ' d rather stay next to it . "
plundered , "
Who would do the plundering if everyone was gone?