NEW ORLEANS — Some New Orleanians are realizing that it wasn’t just Ida that invaded their home after they evacuated for the storm.
Tammy Vicente of New Orleans East discovered her flat screen TVs were missing after returning to the house on Wednesday. She left for Florida for about a week to escape Hurricane Ida.
“They broke the locks on the door,” she said. “Here I am a house full of food they could’ve taken and they took a TV instead. I mean, they could’ve used the food before it went bad.”
Vicente lives on Lakeview Court where several homes were hit. There’s a pattern of houses with tarps now covering the roofs and piles of trash at the end of each driveway line the road.
“Even though I’m in a middle of a mess, at least I’m home,” Vicente explained.
She finds optimism through the sign of strength in her backyard. Her bench with a Fleur de Lis on it is the only thing holding up a nearly toppled fence.
“Look at that, that right there that’s #NolaStrong," she said. "That little bench that little Fleur de lis is holding up that whole big fence."
Vicente is staying in a hotel until she can get some help cleaning up the mess upstairs.
Her daughter created a Go Fund Me account to help Tammy start over. She said she wants to give some of the money raised to her neighbors, too.