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Lafourche Parish begins post-Ida cleanup, but faces a long road ahead

"I'm helping out my niece's house to try and save what she got," Calbert Bouvier said. "We (are) just trying to survive as a family and as a community."

LAFOURCHE PARISH, La. — Lafourche Parish is one of the hardest-hit impacted areas from Hurricane Ida.

After the storm left, along L-A 1 in Lafourche Parish it's not difficult to find storm damage. 

Utility poles are hanging almost low enough to prevent drivers from passing.

In the small community of Cut Off, in southern Lafourche, families everywhere are looking for help and doing what they can to rebuild.

"I'm helping out my niece's house to try and save what she got," Calbert Bouvier said.  "We (are) just trying to survive as a family and as a community."

Just a few blocks over, a farm owner, Reynolds Duet is using heavy machinery to clean up the debris Ida left behind.

"We got a mess, the shop is destroyed, the arena is a mess," Duet said.

Duet has lived in Southern Lafourche parish for most of his life. The last storm that compares to the amount of damage in Lafourche parish is Betsy.

"Betsy, they say was the bad one over here, I was just born in 64, for Katrina we didn't have anything for them, Katrina went to the east of us."

Luckily, Duet's home has been spared. However, he lost his shop that provided his living.

"I was planning to retire this year, this is my sign to retire," he said. 

Duet has been working as a diesel mechanic for 40 years. He describes his fondest memories inside the shop, which still has engine parts. Duet said he started a track record of how many engines he built in 1990.

"We started marking on the doors the engines we built, we were averaging an engine a week for the whole year, it made a lot of money for us too."

While many have lost everything, roofs torn off homes, houses lifted off the foundation, Duet and others are hoping for help soon.

"if we have water, we'd be in heaven we'd ask for nothing more."

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