- Title: "Right now, I've got nothing"- aftermath in Louisiana
- Date: 30th August 2021
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) 70-YEAR OLD, THEOPHILUS CHARLES, SAYING: "I was laying in the front room. Everything was intact then. And then all of a sudden it goes with the blowing over. And then I looked in the other room and then the roof starts blowing off And the wind, the whole house starts shaking. I felt like I was in a vibrator. It was rough last night. I mean rough. I hope I never have to go through that again. I'm going to use my head next time, if there's a next time.". CHARLES WALKING INTO HIS HOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (English) 70-YEAR OLD, THEOPHILUS CHARLES OPENING DOOR INSIDE OF HOUSE, SAYING: "This was my bedroom.. Everything in here is messed up." (SOUNDBITE) (English) 70-YEAR OLD, THEOPHILUS CHARLES INSIDE OF HOUSE, SAYING: "Here's a whole lot of tools I had. I was trying to do the work, But there is no sense in going further with the work here." WIDE SHOT OF CHARLES INSIDE BROKEN OPEN HOUSE TOSSING PAPERS AS CAMERA PANS TO EXTERIOR DAMAGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) 70-YEAR OLD, THEOPHILUS CHARLES INSIDE OF HOUSE, SAYING: "I need help. If anyone out there can help me please do. Because I ain't got nowhere and I lost everything that I had. I mean I lost everything. And nothing I can do with this, ain't no repair you know. You can't simply repair this because you can't. Everything is gone. My walls, my roof, my theater, all my clothes, furniture appliances, everything." (SOUNDBITE) (English) 70-YEAR OLD, THEOPHILUS CHARLES INSIDE OF HOUSE, SAYING: "Brandon makes me feel like I got nothing no more. It's breaking me down man. It hurt. It hurt man. Grandmother built this house man. And there's nothing you can do with it now. There's nothing to do with it now. I tried though. That's all I can say, I tried.'". SOUNDBITE) (English) 70-YEAR OLD THEOPHILUS CHARLES INSIDE OF HOUSE, SAYING: "It's all gone now. Just my little bug out there.. I ain't got nothing in here I can use no more."
- Embargoed: 14th September 2021 00:14
- Keywords: Hurricane Ida Louisiana aftermath damaged home destruction homeless loss
- Location: HOUMA, LOUISIANA, UNITED STATES
- City: HOUMA, LOUISIANA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,United States,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA005ESH38SN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Hurricane Ida ripped through Louisiana with most of the state losing electricity as the storm roads with debris and flooded isolated the home of 70-year old Theophilus Charles who said, "Right now, I've got nothing."
"I ain't got a dry spot in the house," he told Reuters. "My roof fell, I lost all my clothes, my furniture, my appliances, everything," he said.
"I was born here, we went through all the major hurricanes here. So I figure I'll stay here and ride this one out," he said. He hopes to never go through another hurricane.
At least one person was killed in Louisiana and more fatalities were expected, Governor John Bel Edwards told media, as Ida grinded north as a tropical storm.
Virtually no one in the state has electricity and many water systems are also out, the governor said. Emergency 911 service was not available in New Orleans, which is 100 miles (160 km) from where Ida made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. Energy company Entergy said customers in the hardest-hit areas could experience power outages for weeks.
Climate change is fueling deadly and disastrous weather across the globe, including stronger and more damaging hurricanes.
President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in the state, ordering federal assistance to bolster recovery efforts. The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) sent 3,600 of its personnel and 3.4 million meals to the storm-devastated area, the White House said in a statement.
Ida crashed ashore at a time when Louisiana is reeling from a resurgence of COVID-19 infections that has strained the state's healthcare system, with an estimated 2,450 COVID-19 patients hospitalized statewide, many in intensive care units.
Even so, early assessments indicate that the healthcare system in Louisiana largely escaped catastrophic damage.
The storm arrived 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina, one of the most catastrophic and deadly U.S. storms on record, struck the Gulf Coast, and about a year after the last Category 4 hurricane, Laura, battered Louisiana.
(Production: Adrees Latif; Deborah Lutterbeck) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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