NEW ORLEANS — It's been over a year since Hurricane Ida slammed into Southeast Louisiana and while there has been tremendous progress towards recovery, there are still many people displaced or living in damaged homes.
Alonzo Lemoine lives in LaPlace.
"It's a mess," he said.
The mess in his home isn't as much of a concern as the mold spreading along his ceiling.
"I got it in both bathrooms, It's growing fast. I can't get on a ladder no more," he said.
That's why he's ripping out some of the moldy walls.
"I'm trying to keep the mold out here so I can breathe good," Lemoine said.
Lemoine who is on disability and food stamps because he suffers from heart trouble, diabetes, hearing loss, and partial blindness, was home with his mom and sister when Ida hit.
"I was home with the storm. I was doing some praying. The roof was moving, everything was moving, I was doing some praying. I didn't sleep at all."
Sleeping doesn't come easier now. Lemoine's mother is no longer here to help. She was sick and hospitalized nine months ago.
"One day I called, she wouldn’t pick up the phone. I get a call that night, she passed," he said.
His sister died only months later.
"I found my sister dead in the bathroom," Lemoine said, believing she likely died of a heart attack. "She was grieving for my momma."
The losses left Lemoine with a storm damaged home to take care of. He doesn't have insurance to help.
"My momma couldn’t afford it," Lemoine said.
So now more than a year since Ida, he said he is waiting on a FEMA list for a trailer to stay in as he takes the struggles one day at a time, hoping for help.
"And keep praying. That’s it, that’s all I can do," Lemoine said.
A FEMA spokesperson said they have housed 325 families in St. John so far with 14 pending. There is not a time estimate on when more trailers will be distributed.
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