Fall 2021

Thibodaux, Louisiana

The lost bayou: Hurricane Ida

A series about South Louisiana’s disappearing communities

Hurricane Ida, one of the costliest tropical cyclones on record, left a path of destruction from the Gulf Coast to the Northeastern United States, but it hit the Bayou Region of Southeast Louisiana first and hardest.

“The only word I can use to describe it was terrifying,” says Houma resident Austin Avet. “The wind was so incredible that I could never tell if something was going to hit my house or if my roof would tear apart.”

On August 29, 2021, the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina that decimated the Mississippi Gulf Coast and flooded New Orleans, this Category 4 storm destroyed the Bayou Region from Grand Isle to north of Lake Pontchartrain.

It’s been one year since Hurricane Ida changed the lives of those living in the Bayou Region of Southeast Louisiana; and while progress has been made, the rebuilding is not over.

“As bad as this was and as harmful as it was to our homes and businesses, we are still here,” says Archie Chaisson, Lafourche Parish president.