A month after Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana, cleanup continues

It’s been nearly a month since Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana as a Category 4 storm. Weeks later, crews are still trying to clean up the damage, and residents are trying to rebuild their lives.

One person who’s been involved in the cleanup effort is Rochester, Minn. resident Rebecca Snap. She works for the Salvation Army and returned this weekend after two weeks in Louisiana. She told MPR News host Cathy Wurzer that some people still lack electricity to cook or store food.

Snap said New Orleans has been a concern, but small, relatively remote towns have been hit the hardest.

“Most of us [were] driving anywhere between four and five hours round trip every single day to get down to these areas where people still don't have power,” she said. “There were still telephone lines sitting all over the streets and in people's neighborhoods. And people just needed a meal, they needed tarps to protect their homes from the rain, they needed cleanup kits to help with the process of putting things back together.”

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