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.
Despite the damage to their home, the Knapp family says their fortunate to still have one.
Just five minutes away, Bessie Lewis is seeing her sister’s family home for the first time since the storm. The house is a total loss.
“Overwhelmed. This is just too much for me right now,” said Lewis.
The home has been in Lewis’ family for decades. Now, all that’s left is the shell of what it once was.
“And now that I see it, it’s enough to make me deathly ill. To see the devastation, it’s just overwhelming for everybody. I don’t know if we’ll ever recover at this rate,” said Lewis.
Folks in Houma are working day in and day out to restore their community, but they say they need assistance to get their neighborhood back to what it once was.
“We need help right now! It’s just too much,” said Lewis.
If you are in need of FEMA assistance after Hurricane Ida, visit https://www.fema.gov/disaster/hurricane-ida