LAPLACE, La. — Residents in LaPlace, one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Ida, are beginning the long process of clearing out their homes of belongings damaged during the storm.
LaPlace experienced winds well over 100 mph and received 17 inches of rainfall during the storm.
President Joe Biden included LaPlace on his tour Friday of the areas hardest hit by Ida in southeast Louisiana.
WWL-TV spoke with some residents living just north of Airline Highway who were pulling out items from their homes that were damaged by floodwaters during the storm.
The Ortega family were piling up items from clothes to vinyl record albums near the curb of their LaPlace home on Saturday morning.
A small U.S. flag is planted about halfway up along the edge of the driveway to their home. They said once floodwaters reached the flag as the storm was winding down, they made the decision to leave their home.
The next day, 8 to 10 inches of floodwaters made it into their home soaking and damaging their belongings.
The Ortegas said they lost many items that can’t be replaced, like wedding albums. Some of the floodwaters came from back up sewage, ruining clothes and other items that just can’t be cleaned now.
“This whole area is basically a swamp,” Mr. Ortega said of the floodwaters and smell in the neighborhood.
His wife explained that the floodwaters did not recede enough until Friday, five days after Ida made landfall. During that time, they said the water was waist-deep on their street.
One of their daughters, a ninth-grader, referred to it as “Lake LaPlace.”
“To be honest, now that the water has finally gone down, there’s a sense of relief,” Mr. Ortega said. “I was tearing out flooring with the street still flooded, so now you feel a little, you could drive back here. We were wading in waist-deep water when we came back here.”
Another LaPlace resident was already receiving help from his insurance company after he was able to contact them on Monday about the damage caused to his home.
Harold said he contacted them on Monday after one of his neighbors was able to establish phone service.
With the help of a clean-up crew from Florida, he has already piled up trash bags filled up with damaged belongings on his curb.
Like with the Ortegas home, Harold explained that the smell from the floodwaters has been overwhelming as he tries to stay in his home while it is being repaired.
"Right now, I am just trusting in God," he said as he tries to get through the recovery efforts.
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