Today marks one year since the landfall of Category 4 Hurricane Ida. Lafourche Parish was among those hit hardest by the storm’s winds and storm surge. A year later, Parish President Archie Chaisson said, using the term loosely, “we’re getting back to normal”.
“We still have a lot of residents still in temporary housing whether it is in FEMA mobile homes or the space non-congregate RV trailers because they’re fighting with insurance and they’re still getting through the recovery process,” Chaisson said.
Chaisson added about 25 hundred households in Lafourche still live in temporary housing. He says areas that looked like a war zone in Ida’s aftermath, are starting to look more normal again.
“A lot of the debris has been picked up we made a lot of progress with that. We still have quite a few homes that still need to be demolished because of damage during the storm but our kids are back in school and we’re having recreational activities,” Chaisson said.
Chaisson stated many homeowners are still struggling with their insurance companies to get their homes rebuilt. Others are finding new coverage, after having been dropped by one of the many companies to exit Louisiana. He says Lafourche just received a $50-million Community Development Block Grant to help with rebuilding.
“A large chunk of that money is going to go into elevation programs for residents who may be rebuilt their house but they need to meet those new elevation requirements because of code or they want to elevate it because they flooded before,” Chaisson said.
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