LULING, La. (WGNO)- What you’ll see and what you will hear, are evidence that residents are struggling in St. Charles Parish.
Several parishes along the path of destruction of Hurricane Ida are quickly getting back on the grid, except the parts of the River Parishes.
Recovery efforts are underway. Linemen are working sun up to sun down to restore power to the River Parishes. Unfortunately, most of the homes are still in the dark in Luling. It’s been about 12 days without power and counting.
“It’s heart-wrenching,” said Rickie Sampey, Luling resident.
While lights are coming back on quickly in surrounding areas, like New Orleans, residents in Luling are not back on the energy grid.
“Trucks can’t get past the debris to come to fix the roads,” explained Sampey.
There’s a sea of blue tarps in Luling and debris still lining the streets. Feeling forgotten, residents in this area are wondering when it will be their turn to have power restored.
Weathering storm after storm, Marty Owens, says what Hurricane Ida did to the place he calls home is catastrophic.
“This is worse than Katrina. Since we were on the eyewall for this storm and not directly under the eye, it cause a lot of damage.”
Each yard is nearly identical and almost unrecognizable. Debris is standing taller than six feet and still piling up.
Where they’re lacking in resources, residents in Luling make up for it in their resilience.
“We have hope.”
Just shy of two weeks ago Hurricane Ida narrowed her sights on Louisiana’s coast and wreaked havoc on small communities but, the residents still have big hopes to rebuild.
Entergy is updating its outage map and estimated restoration times for the River Parishes.
According to the map, St. Charles Parish is looking like it will be out of power until September 26-29.