Despite mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders in south Louisiana parishes, many residents who wanted to flee were left to fend for themselves as the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the U.S. mainland ravaged Louisiana
HOUMA, La. — With Hurricane Ida's winds screaming and only a tent and tarp for shelter, Angelique Hebert clung to her husband under a bridge where the couple had sought refuge.
to ever hit the U.S. mainland ravaged Louisiana. For homeless people, those on fixed or low incomes, and others in the state's most vulnerable groups, staying wasn't a matter of choice — it was the only choice. “People will say, 'Well, I’m just going to ride it out,'” said Craig Colten, a professor emeritus at Louisiana State University who studies community resilience and adaptation to changing environments in coastal Louisiana.
“It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through,” said Angelique Hebert, 53. Wilfred Hebert said he wanted to do more to protect his wife, but he couldn't. They survived, but the family's troubles are far from over. The $11,000 trailer Ordoyne spent her savings on was destroyed by the storm. She had lived there just two months and has no insurance. She also has no paycheck — she reviews and approves phone applications for a wireless company, a job she can't do without internet or power. In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said roughly half the population evacuated ahead of Ida. The other half — 200,000 people — remained.
After Hurricane Katrina, the city partnered with a nonprofit to put together a “City-Assisted Evacuation Plan” where people would meet at designated neighborhood pickup spots — marked with 12-foot stainless steel sculptures— for a shuttle to shelters. But in Ida — a stormthe mayor said mandatory evacuation wasn't possible — the system was not utilized, Colten said.
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