As Terrebonne recovers from Francine, some residents worry about its future

A crew of linemen use bucket trucks to repair a utility pole near Houma on Sept. 12, 2024, one day after Hurricane Francine made landfall in Terrebonne Parish. (Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)

HOUMA — Recovery efforts continued Thursday in Terrebonne Parish, where thousands remained without electricity a day after Hurricane Francine made landfall there. While the Category 2 storm brought less severe property damage than recent storms, it left some residents with greater worries for the area’s future.

Among them is Terrebonne Parish Councilwoman Kim Chauvin, who spent much of the day looking for and clearing clogged storm drains.

“I’ve been literally out in my district clearing out drains,” Chauvin said. “Government moves at too slow of a pace for me … We got a lot of leaves and sticks and everything clogging drains.”

One of the few remaining shrimpers in Louisiana, Chauvin and her family operate shrimp boats, a fuel and ice dock, a shrimp processing plant and seafood shop. Her home and businesses lost power when the storm approached, and she was still without electricity as of 8 p.m. Thursday. Entergy Louisiana reported less than 22,000 of its customers in Terrebonne Parish were powerless as of 7 a.m. Friday.

Chauvin was elected to the parish council last year and is working with state officials to try to keep Louisiana’s shrimp industry afloat as it struggles to compete with cheap foreign catch from Asia and South America.

Her home and businesses sustained some damage, which she will likely have to pay for out of pocket because the cost of insurance has skyrocketed after recent disasters, including Hurricane Ida in 2021.

To afford homeowner’s insurance, Chauvin said, she had to choose a policy with a $50,000 deductible.

“It amazes me because we still haven’t mitigated Ida’s damages,” she said. “Ida cost us a lot and we’re still reeling from that.”

Bayou Dularge resident J.C. Allen echoed a similar situation as he stood in his front yard Thursday, looking at large piles of mangled materials that, less than 24 hours before, were part of his mobile home. Francine destroyed a second-story sunroom that he had just added to his home a few years ago while renovating damages from Hurricane Ida.

The 71-year-old retired postal carrier and U.S. Marine Corps veteran said his homeowner’s insurance company recently refused to renew his 15-year-old policy.

Allen, who does his own construction work, planned to start rebuilding Friday but believes this will be his last time, he said.

“I just can’t do it anymore,” Allen said. “We want to be down here where the living is good and the fishing is good, but the hurricanes and the insurance companies are forcing us to move away.”

From Gaza to Houma

At the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, people waited Thursday for a hot meal in a line of vehicles that stretched several blocks from the parking lot. Most area stores and restaurants remained closed, leaving few options for the hungry.

The World Central Kitchen, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that delivers food and humanitarian aid into disaster and conflict zones around the world, set up an aid station at the civic center. Its team cooked and handed out over a thousand free meals and bottles of water.

The organization is perhaps best known for what it experienced in Gaza in April when the Israeli military, for reasons still unknown, attacked the vehicles . Seven people were killed, including an American citizen.

To some of the people in Terrebonne Parish, the World Central Kitchen was just another out-of-town group handing out food after a hurricane. Many drivers lined up for meals said they had never heard of the group and were surprised when told of the Gaza incident.

“Y’all are really wonderful for what y’all do,” one driver told a volunteer after learning about the group’s history. “I had no idea. Thank y’all so much.”

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