Traffic lights are operating again since Hurricane Ida struck on Aug. 29. Grocery stores have reopened. Felled trees and fallen branches lie in piles along most streets. Internet service has been restored.
Yet buying gas still requires patience and a Zen-like attitude toward grumpy motorists. Grocery shelves remain sparsely stocked, especially for produce and dairy goods.
And it’s hotter than hot. We’re accustomed to that in south Louisiana, where autumn remains as theoretical as space aliens even at the shirttail end of summer. But we have electricity. Glory be.
We’re lucky. Our home lies along the left flank of Ida’s path through Louisiana. She hammered but didn’t flatten us. She broke our in-state neighbors to the south and east, where recovery will take months, even years.
We’re new Louisianans, more acclimated to tornadoes and winter blizzards than hurricanes. And, candidly, we often say hurricanes are worse.
The comparison is bogus, of course. Hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, floods, earthquakes … war, genocide, pandemic. Disasters befall us unevenly, but we don’t get hall passes. The worst always are those that harm ourselves.
Heartbreaking, Jeff.