Ida Response
LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC
Sylvia Arceneaux shows her son Lawrence the remains of his bed amid the rubble of his childhood home in Chauvin.
Like many in the area Chauvin family begins the starting over process Story by Janet Marcel 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 46 • Bayou Catholic • Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux • December 2021
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
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