Stormbattered region struggles amid destruction

LAKE CHARLES, La. — As southwest Louisiana recovers from the backtoback hurricanes that hammered the region this year, signs of progress compete with lingering evidence of mass destruction. The fallen trees that carpeted neighborhoods have mostly been chopped up and hauled away, but the roofs they devoured are still covered in blue tarps. Piles of debris still line the roads.

Christy Monticello is thankful for the progress. She and her wife no longer have to go to the Civic Center just to get basics like drinking water or ice. But during her daily 45minute commute from the trailer the family is living in to the hospital where she works as a respiratory therapist, she sees how much still needs to be done. Every day, another house demolished. So many tarps on those still standing.

“It’s almost overwhelming by the time you get home,” she said. “You do have to cry every once in a while just to let some emotions out.”

In a year dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, a deeply divisive election and a national reckoning on race, some worry that the hurricanes and their destruction have not gotten the kind of attention that normally leads to an outpouring of support.

Aid efforts after Laura and Delta have only garnered about 25% of the volunteers and donations as other storms affecting the region, such as 2005’ s Hurricane Rita, said Denise Durel, president and CEO of the United Way of Southwest Louisiana.

Hurricane Laura roared ashore on Aug. 27 as a Category 4 storm just south of Lake Charles. On Oct. 9, recovering residents watched as Category 2 Delta swept in just a few miles away. What didn’t get scoured by Laura’s winds was swamped by Delta’s rains. Delta also ripped off the tarps that had gone up on roofs after Laura.

According to Louisiana government figures, nearly 47,000 homes were damaged by Hurricane Laura, with about 16,000 of those in need of major repairs. The bulk of those homes are in Calcasieu Parish, home to the state’s fifthlargest city, Lake Charles, with 80,000 residents. In the lesspopulated Cameron Parish on the Gulf of Mexico, many homes were simply erased by Laura.

Initial estimates from disaster modeling firm Karen Clark & Co. put the combined insured U. S. losses from Laura and Delta at nearly $ 10 billion.

“The first one was a big blow. The second one just was an insult,” Monticello said. She, her spouse, and three sons live together in a trailer while their house is being rebuilt.

Gerald Herbert / Associated Press Brandy Monticello ( left) and Christy Monticello live with their three sons inside a camper after their home in Lake Charles, La., was heavily damaged by Hurricanes Laura and Delta.