RACELAND, La. — Hurricane Ida hurled debris at Mark Matranga's home Sunday, tearing off a portion of his home.
Matranga spoke to WWLTV's Thanh Troung Friday.
"I'm actually retired from the sheriff's office, so I've been through Katrina & Gustav and all that — but this is really been the worst," Matranga said.
The hardware store across the street couldn't withstand the storm's driving wind, sending parts of the store into Matranga's home.
He's lived there for 32 years and like thousands of other folks from Lafourche Parish, Matranga just beginning to figure out what to do next.
"We're from south Louisiana," he said. "We overcome, adapt, and that's what we're doing right now. Everybody's pulling together and waiting for the next move."
Charlie Dalgo is the chaplain at VFW Post 3665 in Raceland. That post also took a punch from the Hurricane.
"Where do you start?" Dalgo asked rhetorically. "Where do you start first? I mean this is all the way up from public officials — all the way down to us on the ground. This right here is where we start: Families helping families."
Friday, other veterans brought gas to the post, serving the community like they served the country.
James Prestenback, also with VFW Post 3665, said his brothers and sisters in arms are getting ready to help by responding to this disaster.
"We're okay right now," Prestenback said. "Our goal is to take care of our veterans and our community right now."
Prestenback and his wife planned to ride out the storm in an auxiliary building that belonged to the VFW post and was nearby.
They were fortunate they changed their minds because that building was destroyed.
"It was a smaller building, and it was a brick building," Angela Prestenback said. "You know, we weren't sure what this one was made of, so we were going to stay there in case we needed to run a generator or something."
Angela caught footage of a roof blowing into the VFW Post's flag pole before it slammed into that auxiliary building.
"Something just told me to come to the big building," James said. "I'm glad we did."
There is destruction but not defeat. The flags at Mark Matranga's home and the one at the VFW are meant to be reminders of that in Raceland.