ALONG BAYOU POINTE-AU-CHIEN, La. (AP) – Driving through her village along a southeastern Louisiana bayou, tribal official Cherie Matherne points out the remnants of house after house – including her own – wrecked nine months ago when Hurricane Ida roared through the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe community.
Beige trailers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and travel campers sit next to pilings that elevated homes 14 feet (4.3 meters) off the ground to protect them from flooding. But it was the wind that got them this time. For hours, the Category 4 hurricane tore off roofs and siding, ripped out insulation and scattered treasured belongings. It destroyed shrimp boats and tossed crab traps.
“It’s going to take years before people can get back to their lives. The majority of people are still at a standstill,” said Matherne, the tribe’s cultural heritage and resiliency coordinator.
When Hurricane Ida barreled through southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29, it slammed into an area home to many Native American tribes, battering people already struggling to overcome decades of coastal erosion, the long shadow of discrimination and a more recent catastrophe – the pandemic.
As a new hurricane season begins, the sounds of recovery – the pop of nail guns and whine of circular saws – are largely absent. And tribal officials worry an equally bad season could put their people in the crosshairs again.