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Cut Off community thankful for donations, but feel 'forgotten' by government

“We’re super grateful for that, but when it comes to the government, it’s like they don’t care."

CUT OFF, La. — Jason Plaisance spent Thursday afternoon moving into his mother’s house in Cut Off, which finally just got power.

“I’m hauling everything out of a four-bedroom house in a little car because that’s all I have left to my name,” Plaisance said.

That four-bedroom house is less than a mile away. It was his grandparents’. He, his wife, and daughter have called it home for five years. Hurricane Ida destroyed it, even ripping part of the roof off.

“Now it’s just going to be memories,” Plaisance said.

Having evacuated to Texas, most of what he salvaged from Hurricane Ida when he got back, was destroyed by rain from Hurricane Nicholas.

“Memories we’ve got left,” Plaisance said as he opened a photo album.

Twenty years’ worth of family memories captured in photos, now just blurred ink. One photo album though, full of his childhood pictures, made it.

“I gave it to them when they graduated of their 18 years of life,” said Plaisance’s mom as she teared up seeing the album.

Helping Plaisance get moved in is his new neighbor, Paul Champagne Jr., who weathered Hurricane Ida inside his home, where he and his fiancée have lived for a year.

“It was just nonstop beating. It was really scary,” Champagne said.

The storm busted through his garage door and took off the roof on his porch. He still doesn’t have power because an electrical box was ripped off his house. Homes around him are unlivable.

“It’s heartbreaking man. I’m blessed I still have a home standing,” Champagne said. “Some people don’t even have that.”

Champagne says his community feels forgotten, relying mostly on donations from civic organizations and churches.

“We’re super grateful for that, but when it comes to the government, it’s like they don’t care,” Champagne said.

Both men say their community is strong, but their entire community needs help.

“I try never to ask for anything and this is the hardest part of my life right now, that I’m going to have to ask for help because I have nothing,” Plaisance said.

    

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