Chauvin family begins the starting over process

Lawrence Arceneaux III, who was living with his mother Sylvia Arceneaux in his childhood home in Chauvin, LA, made the decision to ride out Hurricane Ida at his sister’s house in downtown Houma, along with eight other members of his family.

Lawrence, who serves as the diocesan ParishSOFT database coordinator for the Catholic Foundation of South Louisiana and is a parishioner of St. Joseph Church parish in Chauvin, says the power went out at his sister’s house around 1 or 2 on the afternoon of Aug. 29.

“After that, we watched the storm through the window. Sometimes when it was calm, some of us would go outside and feel the breeze and rain. As Ida got closer, it got worse. Squall after squall came down. There was torrential rain and vicious winds that none of us have ever experienced before,” he recalls. “It was very frightening, and we all worried what might happen. We watched trees blow down, roofs fly apart, and power lines and lights crash down. It was an unforgettable and dreadful experience that lasted into the evening.”
Lawrence says they all thought and hoped the storm would be just like every other storm they had experienced in their lives – Lili, Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike and Zeta, and more – that were awful … but none of them compared to Ida.
The true horror, says Lawrence, came the next day when he left Houma for Chauvin to see if his childhood home had survived.
“There was so much debris everywhere. Power lines and trees were all over the roads. Entire highways and streets were blocked off. It took us almost two hours to get from downtown Houma to Chauvin. On that trip to see the damage, every minute that passed was worse than the last. I saw so many homes and businesses torn to shreds. Roofs were collapsed, windows were shattered, entire houses were knocked off of their foundations. The farther south I went, the worse the damage seemed to get.”

When Lawrence finally drove up to the home he had spent over 20 years of his life in, an old home built in 1929 that had survived countless powerful storms for nearly a century, he says it was one of the worst moments of his life.

“It was in shambles. Ida had blasted it off its foundation and broke it apart. The structure ruptured, splitting my room and the garage from the main building. Walls had collapsed, exposing the kitchen, master bedroom and laundry room. The gas and water lines severed. Most of the roofing blew off. Windows shattered. Doors blew down. The floor buckled, bent and broke. Holes formed in the ceiling. All of this damage created many openings into the house, allowing the wind and rain to tear everything inside apart. In the aftermath, we were not able to save much. Most of what I previously owned was damaged or lost completely to the elements. Almost all of my clothes, photographs, 90 books, computers, and other possessions were unsalvageable.” The house itself could not be saved and was demolished a month after the storm, leaving Lawrence and his mother without a home to call their own.

Lawrence, who is currently living with his sister in Houma, along with other members of his family who are also homeless because of Hurricane Ida, says the week after the storm was absolutely dreadful.

“I spent every day in a hot house with nothing to do. My phone had no service, and it was incredibly difficult for me to entertain myself. I often sat or laid down on a sofa or bed for hours staring at the wall or ceiling, doing nothing. The only occasional entertainment I had was when my family and I went to Morgan City or farther out to get gas for our generator.”

Lawrence says the diocesan disaster relief efforts were very helpful to his family following Hurricane Ida. A lot of items that were difficult to acquire or hard for his family to afford were generously provided by the diocese and Catholic Charities, such as much-needed food, water, clothes, gas, paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning products, mold cleaner, storage containers, air mattresses and more.

Despite the personal tragedy he was experiencing in his life following Hurricane Ida, Lawrence has been very much involved in the diocese’s disaster recovery and relief efforts. Because of his database experience, he was put in charge of managing point-of-distribution and disaster relief data-intake to help keep track of who needed assistance and where assistance was being offered.

Lawrence says his mother plans to remain in Chauvin and rebuild their home. However, this terrible experience has made him unsure of whether or not he plans to remain in Louisiana in the future. “I have my whole life ahead of me. I guess I’ll just have to see where it takes me.”