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U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) traveled down to the Houma-Thibodaux area today to deliver supplies and speak with locals affected by Hurricane Ida.
He assessed the damage by flyovers, but Kennedy wanted to witness it on the ground. “That’s no substitute for talking to my people and seeing the damage. We took it full in the face,” said the senator. “…This was worse than Katrina. It was a water event; I don’t want to underestimate or minimize that. But it was much more of a wind event.”
Kennedy said efforts are being made in Washington to provide help for Louisiana. “The president personally made the commitment when he was here Friday to me, and I’m going to make sure he’s a man of his word,” he said. “…We still have needs in southwest Louisiana. They got hit by three storms, and it’s been a year. I’m hoping that we can pass a separate bill. I don’t want to get it mixed up in the politics of everything else; I’d like to do a separate bill to help everyone: the northeast that was hit by the storms, southeast Louisiana and southwest Louisiana.
On Thursday, in a letter to President Biden, the Louisiana Delegation requested Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) supplemental assistance for damage caused by Hurricanes Ida, Laura and Delta, and other hurricanes from 2020. They noted that “communities across Southwest and Central Louisiana” affected by Laura and Delta await assistance, and residents of southeast Louisiana now need help as well.
“FEMA is on the ground. They’re doing a pretty good job, not perfect, but they’re much improved from Katrina,” Kennedy added. “They got plenty of money in their account. I checked Monday morning; they’ve got about $40 million. So, they want help with the short-term needs. At some point, Congress is going to have to help because we’re going to have a housing problem. People have to have a place to live while they rebuild, and they have to have money to rebuild.”
Before he made his way to Lafourche, one of the stops for Kennedy Tuesday morning was Bayou Blue Assembly of God, the Christian church located at 1403 Prospect Blvd. in Houma, which was set up as a distribution center to help the community a few days after the storm passed. Kennedy and his team helped hand out supplies while speaking with folks devastated by the storm. “I just want to hear their story: were they here; did they evacuate; how much damage did they have. A lot of folks just want to tell their story, and I want to hear it,” Kennedy said.
Leroy and Ann Parfait, residents of Dulac for over 70 years, were in one of the first cars in line at the Houma church this morning. Leroy said Ida is comparable to Hurricane Betsy, which struck Louisana as a powerful Category 4 hurricane in 1965 — a storm that remains mentioned among older residents of the Lafourche-Terrebonne area due to the massive wrecking it delivered. However, Leroy said, Ida was worse. “We lost everything,” he shared. On a fixed income, the Dulac native said, he can’t afford the high insurance rates for homes in his area. He came to the distribution center to receive “anything we can get.”
He and his wife were able to speak with Kennedy, who told them he was going to request help from Congress to help the areas devastated by the life-altering storm. “It helps ease your mind a little bit,” Leroy commented on seeing elected officials on the ground.
At Bayou Blue Assembly, Kennedy met with State Senator Mike Fesi (R-Lafourche, Terrebonne), along with Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Tim Soignet, Houma Police Chief Dana Coleman and other local officials. Although there was “total devastation” in some areas, Fesi said, he’s grateful the levees held because it could have been much worse. “The levee systems proved how well they work. So now, we just got to continue on that,” he said. “And then we just build stronger.”
