Hurricane Ida News
See the damage in Houma and Terrebonne Parish caused by Hurricane Ida
Hurricane Ida arrived in Louisiana at 150 mph Sunday morning, matching the strongest landfall in the state’s history, and is a Category 4 storm.
The National Hurricane Center said the hurricane will bring “life-threatening flash and urban flooding and significant riverine flooding impacts” to southeast Louisiana into far southern Mississippi.
Houma, in Terrebonne Parish, was one of the cities in Ida’s path…………
Houma resident details experience riding out Hurricane Ida
HOUMA, La. (KPLC) – One day after Hurricane Ida Houma residents are returning home to assess the damage. One resident shares his story of riding out the storm in his home.
Hurricane Ida was the first storm John Curso and his wife did not evacuate for, but he says this will be his last.
“National Guard and FEMA, when they are going to get down here with water and ice, they have no clue,” Curso said.
The couple said it was a terrifying experience…………….
Energy company: Hurricane Ida restoration could take weeks
HOUMA, La. (AP) — Full restoration of electricity to some of the hardest-hit areas of Louisiana battered to an unprecedented degree by Hurricane Ida could take until the end of the month, the head of Entergy Louisiana warned Saturday.
At least 16 deaths were blamed on the storm in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Ida damaged or destroyed more than 22,000 power poles, more than hurricanes Katrina, Zeta and Delta combined, an impact Entergy President and CEO Phillip May called “staggering.” More than 5,200 transformers failed and nearly 26,000 spans of wire — the stretch of transmission wires between poles — were down…………
Louisiana colleges already reeling from the pandemic now struggle to recover from Ida
Only a third of Nicholls State University students were vaccinated against the coronavirus when they returned to campus last month, so the Louisiana school embarked on a campaign to press inoculations — and it seemed to be working. Hundreds of reluctant students got jabs in the first few days of the semester.
Then Hurricane Ida made landfall just 70 miles south.
The Category 4 storm not only threatened lives and left a million or so homes and businesses across Louisiana without power. It also battered 21 state colleges and universities, stalling campus vaccination efforts in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country……………
Houma residents continue recovery efforts nearly a month after Hurricane Ida
HOUMA, La. (WGNO) — It has been nearly a month since Hurricane Ida ripped through Houma and the devastation is evident across the town. If you drive down almost any street, you’ll see blue roofs on homes and debris and furniture on the side of the road. But families like the Knapp’s are grateful to be here.
“I just thank God we have a home and a place to live,” said Houma resident Vivian Use-Knapp.
Use-Knapp is finding comfort in making her first seafood gumbo of the season. It’s a small piece of normalcy she’s holding onto, even though her home was substantially damaged by Ida.
“The ceiling fell down and the roof has a whole in it through my bathroom. I just got off that bathroom, out that bathroom, thank God I wasn’t, I could’ve got hurt really bad,” said Use-Knapp…………
FEMA confirms no trailers have been delivered to Hurricane Ida victims in Southeast Louisiana
HOUMA, La. — There are concerns in Terrebonne Parish over blue tarps for rooftops and trailers for people to live in.
While federal officials say they’re working to process claims and requests as fast as they can, one elected leader in Houma said he’s seeing little action — and now he’s lashing out.
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“Terrebonne Parish and the RFP, their request to the federal government is 10,000 mobile homes — so that’s 10,000 mobile homes — so that’s 10,000 people in Terrebonne Parish that are living in uninhabitable dwellings so that’s the situation we are dealing with,” state Rep. Tanner Magee said.
“Out of 10,000 how many have been delivered? Do you know yet?” WDSU’s Travers Mackel asked Magee……..
Pushed to the edge, tribe members in coastal Louisiana wonder where to go after Ida
More than a month after Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm, battered Louisiana’s coast, Roy and Annie Parfait still can’t go home.
The Native couple, elders of the Houma tribe, are staying with family while they wait to see if federal money comes through to help them repair their roof in Dulac.
When Ida slammed the coast with winds clocked upwards of 160 mph, it devastated the fishing town located 70 miles from New Orleans. Across southeast Louisiana, gusts sliced open roofs, tore down power lines and overturned mobile homes and boats. Although the levees largely held back major flooding, entire houses blew away.
Having lived in Dulac for 70 years, the Parfaits have weathered quite a few storms in their time, including Hurricane Katrina………….
As trailers trickle in, push for temporary housing continues 6 weeks after Hurricane Ida
NEW ORLEANS — Laura, Delta, Zeta, Ida. Southern Louisiana has seen its fair share of storms over the past two years. As people continue to clean up, there’s now another concern.
A new system for setting flood insurance rates is getting some pushback from lawmakers. They argue FEMA’s new plan, Risk Rating 2.0, will hike up premiums for hundreds-of-thousands of people.
U.S. Sen Bill Cassidy visits Houma to discuss Hurricane Ida recovery
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy toured a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center in Houma on Friday, meeting with constituents to discuss their needs as they rebuild after Hurricane Ida.
“You can drive through the bayou and see the spectrum of the recovery,” said Cassidy, R-La. “Some places have completely recovered, and some places are without electricity. Our commitment is for long-term recovery so that all places end up better off.”
In a separate meeting, Cassidy discussed recovery efforts with with Houma-Thibodaux Catholic Bishop Shelton Fabre and Lee Shaffer, assistant director of Catholic Charities and Disaster Response Teams……..