George Arthur was washing a dish at his kitchen sink when the wind ripped the roof off of his house.
Clutching his two most valued possessions -- a briefcase with important papers and the urn holding his wife’s ashes -- the 69-year old retired oilfield worker rode out the rest of Hurricane Ida in his 12-year old Chevy Silverado, the ferocious winds rocking the truck for hours.
“It was almost like being offshore again,” Arthur said. “This truck was rocking like a boat.”
Two months after the Category 4 storm slammed southeast Louisiana, Arthur’s life is still rocking like that Chevy Silverado in a hurricane.
Hurricane Ida arrived in Louisiana Sunday every bit as ornery as advertised: 150 mph winds, some of the fiercest to ever hit American shores, …
His house in Houma was destroyed; he spent days recently sitting outside waiting for federal inspectors to come tell him if qualified for a trailer.
He's staying with his brother-in-law in Houma for now. It’s better than the metal shed he lived in for 19 days after the storm. “Bless his heart,” Arthur said. “I couldn’t have lived in that shed much longer.”
HOUMA: George Arthur grieves for his wife, Jenny, who died in March, after seeing a lift chair he bought for her strewn with debris at his home. Hurricane Ida blew off the home's roof as he stood in the kitchen. Arthur grabbed his wife's ashes and important papers and rode out the rest of the storm in his pickup. 'I'm glad she wasn't here for this,' he said. George Arthur lived in his backyard shed for 19 days after the hurricane before moving in with his brother-in-law. His biggest frustration is with FEMA and the state, which he feels is giving him the runaround. He's applied for money to rebuild, and he has been approved for a trailer, but there have been glitches. 'FEMA's magic phrase is, 'Someone will come by or call within 10 days.' Twenty days later, no call and no visit.
The long-tail effects of Hurricane Ida have given Arthur plenty of company in misery. For legions of beleaguered souls scattered across southeast Louisiana, Ida's violent winds have yet to subside.
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The storm’s toll on southeast Louisiana was breathtaking. Coastal and bayou communities were reduced to Jenga-piles of rubble. In some places, it was the wind. In others, the water. Some got both.
The Rev. Antonio Speedy, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in the bayou community of Dulac, sees more faces in his church these days. There is a weariness he can feel.
DULAC: Nathan Trosclair prays during confession outside of Holy Family Catholic Church. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
“I have not encountered anyone who questions God,” he said. “A lot are questioning whether they have the strength to get through it.”
Ida was one of the strongest storms ever to hit Louisiana.
Holy Family has delivered help, both tangible and spiritual, to people who are hurting. Trailers of supplies. Help finding shelter.
“God’s got a plan,” Speedy said. Sometimes that plan includes suffering, he allowed.
One small positive? The storm, he said, has given people an opportunity to show love for one another.
On the ground in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Ida, people tell stories of panicked rescues, unimaginable loss and dangerously close calls.
Not that Ida did.
The storm began inauspiciously in the Caribbean, southwest of Jamaica. But as it traveled across the Gulf, more or less taking direct aim at Louisiana, we added a new phrase to our storm lexicon: Rapid intensification.
The warm Gulf waters and humid air were adrenaline injected into Ida’s veins, pushing its transformation into a raging monster.
At landfall, near Port Fourchon, winds howled to near 150 mph.
Just to the east, the storm showed no mercy to Grand Isle.
GRAND ISLE: The burrito levee remains exposed 2 months after Hurricane Ida struck southeast Louisiana. The holes in the levee were filled with temporary super sand sacks. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
It left the historic resort town as little more than a pile of rubble, its roadways buried under several feet of sand.
'Hard conversations' needed about using sand dunes at Grand Isle, 7-foot levees for Lafitte
It was days before communication was restored and it will be years before the island will be close to what it was before.
Other coastal communities -- Lafitte, Barataria, Ironton, Point aux Chien -- are also changed forever.
Heading north, Ida barrelled across a swath of Louisiana, from LaPlace to Kenner to Manchac, where houses were battered and residents displaced. Streets soon became narrow passageways between towering rows of soaked carpet, insulation and Sheetrock.
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It’s been 62 days since Ida's arrival. It will be many years before she truly leaves.
A photographer recently caught up with Calvin Johnson, who was smoking a cigar recently under what once had been a giant pecan tree along the levee in Reserve near where he’s lived his entire life.
RESERVE: Calvin Johnson, 63, smokes from his cigar while standing next to a pecan tree that once stood tall along the base of the Mississippi River levee, right, near his home. He has lived all his life around this tree and remembers stopping countless times to grab a few pecans from underneath it which he would then put in his pocket and eat while fishing in the Mississippi River a few hundred yards from this spot. Hurricane Ida took down many trees in this area. "At one time we had pecan trees growing all along the river road." Asked about life after the historic storm, " It's going to be a big change because everything is just different now. " (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Johnson used to grab pecans from under the tree on his way to fish on the levee nearby or sit and enjoy a cold drink under its shade. Now the tree has been cut, its stunted limbs a metaphor for what Ida did to his hometown.
The storm's impact won't be soon forgotten.
“It's going to be a big change because everything is just different now,” he said.
LAFITTE: A skid loader, travels across a temporary bridge installed between Lafitte and Barataria as recovery efforts continue two months after Hurricane Ida. Hurricane Ida damaged the Kerner swing bridge and the National Guard replaced it with a one-lane floating bridge until this larger temporary two-lane bridge was installed making travel of easier across Bayou Barataria. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
LAFITTE: Shawn Martin, age 3, peers into a box of toys that were donated to St. Anthony/St. Pius. X Catholic Church to support those recovering from Hurricane Ida with his grandmother Phara Martin. The church operates a relief center with donated, food, clothes, bedding, cleaning supplies, household items and toys to local families in need. The distribution schedule can be found of the FaceBook page of St. Anthony/St. Pius. X Catholic Church. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
LAFITTE: Members of the Barataria Baptist Church hold "Thank You" signs and American flags as they show their appreciation to a convoy of National Guard troops as they remove their floating bridge that was a life line between Lafitte and Barataria after Hurricane Ida. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
HOUMA: Mia Kern mows her lawn at her home. 'I'm taking it one day at a time, doing what I can, when I can,' she said. Kern and her 16-year-old son are staying with friends in Galliano. She spends about three hours a day driving her son to H. L. Bourgeois High School in Gray, where South Terrebonne High, damaged by Ida, now meets, and back to Galliano. Hurricane Ida destroyed her home, which she inherited from her mother, and was not insured. Kern says she has been denied housing, but was given $3,000 by FEMA. She is not working, due to damage suffered by her employer, and she can't draw unemployment, she said. 'The only thing I'm drawing is my nerves.' Kern plans to fix up her home's storage barn for her and her son to live in. 'I'd like a place where I can lounge when I want, go from room to room when I want, turn on the lights or get something out of the refrigerator. I'm ready to be home on my own.'
HOUMA: Kolsten Ricketts, 6, left, his cousin Mazada Liner, 10, and sister, Kara Verdin, 9, watch television inside a tent. Kolsten and Kara's parents, Buck and Harley Ricketts, have been living with the children in the tent since Hurricane Ida knocked the Ricketts' home off its foundation. The tent is at the home of Harley Ricketts' parents, John and Tracy Boudreaux. The Boudreauxs have been sleeping in their car, due to wind and water damage to their home from Ida and mold. The two families cook using a barbecue, a boiling pot or a microwave hooked to an extension cord from Boudreaux's home. Boudreaux has been approved for a FEMA camper, but Ricketts' application needs more documents. 'I'm hoping we can get out of the tent as soon as possible,' Harley Ricketts said. High winds from a cold front Wednesday snapped a tent pole in half, causing the tent to collapse over the children's bed.
HOUMA: Kolston Liner, 5, helps clean up Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, at his grandfather's house. 'This is the worst I've ever seen,' said Carlton DeHart Sr. He, his wife and three grandchildren are living in a storage shed on the property. DeHart said he is thankful for all he has. 'We evacuated for the storm,' he said. 'When we came back we didn't have nothing. But we had us.'
GRAND ISLE: Dean Blanchard, of Dean Blanchard Seafood, watches the Miss Melissa boat unload shrimp using a shrimp vacuum machine 2 months after Hurricane Ida struck southeast Louisiana. Blanchard's seafood operation was back up and running 2-3 weeks after Ida. He claims shrimpers are catching lots of shrimp in areas that have not had many shrimp since the BP oil spill. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
NEAR LAPLACE: Levi Bourg, 2, uses a water hose to spray his brother, Luke, 5, and their dog, Jax, as they play. Their grandmother, Virginia Bourg, said she set up this tent behind them in place of their garage that flipped over during Hurricane Ida. She said her grandchildren and dog were living in Lafitte with her son, Dustin, who is now rebuilding his home which was severely flooded. The family is living together until they can return to their rebuilt home. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
LAPLACE: A strip mall is still dark two months after Hurricane Ida as businesses continue to rebuild near where people line up in their cars for food at a Popeyes drive thru. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
DULAC: Donovan Billiot organizes belongings outside of his tents. Billiot and his fiancé, Amanda Chatagnier, are living in a tent under Billiot's mother's home after their home in Chauvin was damaged by Hurricane Ida. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
NEW ORLEANS: Hurricane Ida winds and water caused millions of dollars of damage to the churches throughout the New Orleans diocese. The spires at Mater Delarosa Catholic Church on Carrollton were damaged. (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Point-Aux-Chenes: Tammy Billiot washes clothes in her destroyed home. "The washing machine still works so why not use it." She said. The family is living in make-shift shelters for now and are uncertain of their future, but, they are not moving. (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
HOUMA: Pastor Irby Fitch, blue shirt, stops church service briefly on the cement slab of the future Grace Baptist Church in Houma, as church members try and hold the tents down during a wind gust. The original church was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ida's wind and water. The new church is slowly being built with volunteer help by "Craftsmen for Christ." (Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
DULAC: Storm debris is piled up along Grand Caillou Road. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
GRAND ISLE: Barber and resident of over 20 years, Tommy Hollier cuts the hair for resident Jeannine Braud at Vacajun Hair Shop 2 months after Hurricane Ida struck southeast Louisiana. Hollier reopened his barbershop on Oct. 19 after he cleaned out 3 inches of mud off the floor. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
GOLDEN MEADOW: A damaged home is decorated for halloween 2 months after Hurricane Ida struck southeast Louisiana. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
With little to do living in the country, Kornell Davis remembers running through Ironton's cemetery while growing up on lower Plaquemines Pari…
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