Louisiana

For these 3 Southwest Louisiana households, storm recovery struggles continue

Published

9 months ago

March 28, 2025

For these 3 Southwest Louisiana households, storm recovery struggles continue

Terra Hillman replaces a propane tank on the camper trailer where she’s lived since Hurricane Laura damaged her Lake Charles house in 2020. (Chris Vinn for Louisiana Illuminator)

LAKE CHARLES — Sheriff’s deputies accompanied Federal Emergency Management Agency workers to Terra Hillman’s fenced-in property Jan. 29. They were there to remove the camper she’s lived in since Hurricane Laura plowed through her home in August 2020.

Hillman’s is one of three households in Calcasieu Parish who still need temporary shelter as they struggle to rebuild after the historic 2020 hurricane season. Their personal stories reveal gaps that remain in the disaster recovery process, even as the area sees a boom in multifamily housing construction.

FEMA set a Feb. 28 deadline to remove the remaining trailers from Calcasieu Parish, though the agency did not respond to questions about why it went to Hillman’s property a month early.

When FEMA arrived at her property, Hillman entered her damaged house and would not speak with officials except to request they leave. About an hour later, they left without taking the temporary trailer.

Damage to Hillman’s home has made it difficult for her to repair. Her insurance company initially paid to repair her roof but denied the rest of her damage claims, including home leveling costs, which she said came to more than $300,000. But after her insurance company filed for bankruptcy, Hillman received no additional reimbursements. Court records show she’s suing the Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association to recoup her losses.

“I’ve tried to re-tarp it [the roof] a few times myself because nobody else would do it because it’s dangerous …” Hillman said. “The weather around here just makes a joke of the tarps and stuff, and so the water just pours in half the house.”

Tarps cover the damage Hurricane Laura inflicted in 2020 upon Terra Hillman’s home in Lake Charles. (Chris Vinn for Louisiana Illuminator.

Reached last week, Hillman said she was still living in her trailer while repairs to her home continue. A freak winter ice storm in February 2021 damaged her plumbing, adding to the fixes needed.

Hillman applied for help from Restore Louisiana, the program providing federal grants for homeowners affected by natural disasters in 2020-21. She was initially awarded $19,000 but appealed the award amount. She has since been approved for $325,000 to cover the full demolition and rebuild. However, she said the process has been slow.

Restore Louisiana program’s deadline for issuing grant award agreements was Nov. 1, 2024.

The Louisiana Office of Community Development, which oversees the program, has closed over 13,000 grant agreements, obligating more than $1.06 billion, spokesman Marvin McGraw told the Illuminator.

“Of the 20,803 submitted applications, 99.9% of grant award determinations have been completed, with only 12 homeowners awaiting a final award decision,” McGraw said.

The program expects to finalize any outstanding awards by March 31, he added.

“At this stage, all homeowners have been notified of their program status, and any remaining delays are likely due to missing documentation or unmet program requirements,” McGraw said.

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Financial hardships hinder recovery

Before it was removed from her property, Diana Betters lived in a FEMA trailer in south Lake Charles, outside of city limits. She shared it with six other family members since her manufactured home sustained storm damage in 2020 that included busted pipes and a mold infestation visible around holes in the roof, walls and floors.

“I don’t know how much mold has built up. We’ve been buying the mold stuff and spraying and scrubbing,” Betters said.

Despite efforts to secure more permanent housing after the storms, she faced credit checks and financial hurdles, including a $650 sewer repair.

Betters said she was awarded $75,000 from Restore Louisiana.

“I went and looked at the double-wide homes, and they want $149,000,” Betters said. “What I’m gonna do with it? Well, it’s a down payment, then the rest gonna fall on me. I already have a mortgage” for the damaged home.

Betters said she turned down housing options in nearby Sulphur and Iowa because she didn’t want her 11-year-old granddaughter to change schools. She considered two apartments near McNeese State University but didn’t qualify for a lease because of her low credit score.

According to documents Hillman and Betters received from FEMA and shared with the Illuminator, their trailer rents increased in January, with residents subjected to additional penalties should they continue to live in them beyond February.

Hillman said her $50 monthly rent increased to $200 in January, but she was unsure of what fees she would owe for continuing to live in her trailer past Feb. 28. Betters said her rent rose from $359 to more than $700 in 2024.

Despite the Feb. 28 deadline, FEMA representatives showed up at Betters’ property Jan. 30 and ordered her family to vacate the trailer. As the family packed their belongings, contract workers started removing the trailer skirting to prepare it for removal. But just as they had at Hillman’s home, FEMA workers left the property without the trailer when reporters with the Illuminator and KPLC-TV arrived.

Betters told the Illuminator FEMA officials returned without warning the next day to remove the trailer. She and her family are now back to living in their hurricane-damaged home while they save for something new.

“We’re bunched up in here like sardines,” Betters said, explaining that she’s using some rooms in her damaged home for storage space.

FEMA would not answer specific questions about Betters or Hillman but said in an email that its Direct Housing Mission program ended Feb. 28. When a move-out is completed, FEMA said its campers are “not typically removed from the property on the same day.

Ceiling damage is visible in a section of Terra Hillman's home in Lake Charles that Hurricane Laura damaged in 2020. — Ceiling damage is visible in a section of Terra Hillman’s home in Lake Charles that Hurricane Laura damaged in 2020. (Chris Vinn for Louisiana Illuminator)

Nearly 20 years of disputes

Sulphur resident Ronnie Hossain has lived in FEMA trailers since 2005, when Hurricane Rita leveled the southwest corner of Louisiana. He has been involved in a lengthy dispute with local officials over rebuilding his storm-damaged home, and FEMA put his trailer on its removal list with the two others left over from the 2020 storms.

Hossain said his FEMA trailer was scheduled for repossession for 9 a.m. Jan. 31. However, no one from FEMA arrived when the time came. He attributes the no-show to reporters who were present during previous removal attempts earlier that week.

Hossain claims FEMA wrongly accused him of violations in an attempt to force him out of his temporary housing and that local officials have been unhelpful, further complicating efforts to rebuild his home. He also said that FEMA cited him for failing to meet with a caseworker, but he alleges no caseworker has ever visited his property.

Hossain said he had been paying rent for the FEMA trailer, which recently increased from $225 to $475 per month. Now, he claims, FEMA is demanding $1,600 in rent, an amount he says is unreasonable.

Sulphur Mayor Mike Danahay said Hossain has been entangled in zoning and permitting issues since Hurricane Rita. He has violated city ordinances by having multiple structures on a lot zoned for one single-family dwelling, according to the mayor.

Hossain said the trailer he had been living in since Rita was damaged during Hurricane Laura in 2020. FEMA replaced it, and he removed the original one from his property six months ago.

Hossain has yet to move into his house, and Danahay says he has repeatedly failed to meet deadlines for completing construction. The mayor said Hossain had electrical and plumbing work done without the necessary permits, which has prevented city inspectors from ensuring the home meets safety standards. Despite years of attempted cooperation, officials eventually had to start enforcing ordinances, Danahay said.

The mayor maintains the city’s goal is compliance, not punishment.

“I think we’ve been more than patient with this gentleman to get his house in order so he can move back in,” Danahay stated. “All we are asking him to do is complete the house and do it right to ensure safety.”

Hossein told the Illuminator he has permits to work on the house.

Hossain was locked out of his FEMA trailer Feb. 23, and it was removed from the property March 3, he said. Additionally, he claims FEMA sent a notice to the Internal Revenue Service to garnish more than $1,600 from his monthly income.

He said has been in contact with Restore recently to renegotiate the terms of his grant to continue rebuilding his house.

Multifamily construction boom replacing damaged housing stock

Hurricanes Laura and Delta took dead aim at southwest Louisiana and damaged approximately 44,000 homes, according to a 2020 study. About half of the Calcasieu Parish housing stock was impacted.

More than 750 damaged homes in Lake Charles have either been repaired or rebuilt since 2020, city spokeswoman Katie Harrington said. Additionally, more than 900 new multi-family units have come online or are in the process of being developed.

Woodring Apartments in downtown Lake Charles just marked its grand opening and offers affordable rates for qualifying tenants. Construction is well underway at the 72-unit Calcasieu Heights and Capstone at the Oaks, with 120 apartments. Both properties are intended for senior housing.

Mid-City Lofts, a 46-unit mixed income development, is under construction on a portion of what was once the Lloyd Oaks Housing Development. What’s left of Lloyd Oaks is also being redeveloped.

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Louisiana

As New Orleans cuts costs, Louisiana auditor reviews take-home vehicles: ‘Is it necessary?’

Published

18 minutes ago

January 7, 2026

Press Room

As New Orleans cuts costs, Louisiana auditor reviews take-home vehicles: ‘Is it necessary?’

As New Orleans looks to shave costs, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor is probing whether to curb the city’s roughly 2,800-vehicle fleet, including take-home vehicles.

Auditor Mike Waguespack – who is already monitoring the city’s finances, including overtime costs – said Tuesday that he’ll examine whether employees who have take-home cars actually need them and whether the city is selling vehicles it no longer uses.

The city’s fleet was 40% larger at the end of July than it was in 2023, according to data provided to the Times-Picayune last month. At least 935 municipal employees, or roughly 20% of the city’s workforce, drove cars home as of December, costing the city at least $41 million. Most are police officers.

“Is it necessary? Is it a fringe benefit or is it really justified?” Waguespack said on Tuesday.

Waguespack’s moves come after Mayor-elect Helena Moreno in December questioned Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s use of take-home cars and the size of the city’s overall fleet, and as Moreno’s administration is implementing a host of furloughs and layoffs to avoid a $222 million deficit that would have otherwise plagued the new year.

A spokesperson for Moreno said Monday that “it is clear there are efficiencies to be gained and some unnecessary allocation of resources” in the city’s vehicle fleet.

“Reducing unnecessary expenditures is at the top of the Moreno administration’s priorities,” Todd Ragusa said.

A Cantrell spokesperson did not return a request for an interview.

The auditor’s report will be released as one part of a comprehensive review of the city’s fiscal practices requested by State Bond Commission after it agreed to allow the city to sell $125 million in short-term revenue bonds in November. Waguespack will review New Orleans’ finances for fiscal years 2022 through 2025 and make recommendations.

His office will begin issuing reports on various budgetary issues in the next few months, and will issue the full slew of reports by mid-year, he said.

A deep review

New Orleans has had to contend with state intervention ever since the city discovered a $160 million deficit last year, caused by a failure to account for police overtime, ignored warnings about overspending, and too-rosy revenue projections.

Waguespack weekly approves the city’s drawdowns from the $125 million pool the State Bond Commission authorized last year, so that the city could make payroll for 5,000 employees.

He is also looking into the city’s policies and practices governing overtime spending, another area Moreno has said her administration will take measures to control after she takes office on Jan. 12.

Now, his audit of city vehicles — his first deep-dive into that issue — will examine the condition of municipal vehicles, their maintenance and insurance records. It will also examine the city’s vehicle policies, including who gets to take home a car, Waguespack said.

Waguespack on Tuesday questioned the size of the city’s overall fleet, which includes “pool” vehicles that are not assigned to a particular driver. The city’s total fleet consisted of 2,800 vehicles as of July 30, according to city records provided to the Times-Picayune.

“At first glance it appears that there is an excessive amount of pool cars— some of which are dated in age,” said Waguespack. “It could be an issue of not selling the surplus property.”

Of the fleet, 350 vehicles are pre-2010 models, according to the records. Waguespack said he worries that unnecessary vehicle expenditures — including costs to maintain and insure vehicles past their prime — could be straining the city’s finances.

Increase in fleet

The city did not provide take-home vehicle data for 2020-2024 or total fleet data for 2020-2022 in response to a public records request.

But data it did provide show the overall fleet has increased dramatically in recent years. By the end of 2023, there were 1,970 overall cars, compared to roughly 2,800 in July.

Also in 2023, the New Orleans Police Department rolled out more than 700 new police vehicles as part of a push by then-Interim New Orleans Police Superintendent Michelle Woodfork to give every officer a take-home car to boost recruitment numbers. Of the 935 employees who had take-home cars in December, 832 were NOPD employees.

The city dedicated $26 million of its $388 million in federal pandemic aid to public safety vehicles, according to the city’s American Rescue Plan spending dashboard.

The $41 million the city paid for the take home vehicles in use as of December, per the records, includes only the purchase price of the cars, and not the insurance, maintenance or gas it must also pay.

The size and oversight of the city’s fleet has long been a point of contention.

In 2008, then- Inspector General Robert Cerasoli found that the city was paying $1 million a year for 273 vehicles for public workers, not including purchase costs, and that there had been frequent abuse.

In response, Mayor Mitch Landrieu slashed the number of administrative take-home vehicles to 59, and separately cut the number of cars assigned to public safety employees from 758 in June 2010 to 414.

In 2016, a report by then-Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux found that between 2009 and 2024, the city had no formal fleet management system in place to track how many vehicles the city owned, or how often they were used or repaired.

Mayor’s personal fleet

Moreno highlighted concerns about the city’s take-home car policies in an interview with the Times-Picayune last year.

“We have way too many people with take-home cars that are non-public safety employees,” Moreno said.

Of the 935 employees who have take-home cars in December, 95% had public safety responsibilities.

She also took shots at the mayor’s personal fleet of take-home cars, and said she’d get rid of them. “I don’t know why she needs four.”

Cantrell confirmed at the time that she has three city vehicles – “two large vehicles and one sedan” — which she said were necessary for “safety and protection.” She also fired back that Moreno “doesn’t know what she doesn’t know.”

A list of take-home vehicles provided to the Times-Picayune only lists one vehicle assigned to Cantrell, a 2021 Chevrolet Suburban. It’s unclear why the other two vehicles are not listed.

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Louisiana

CWD Case Found in a White-tailed Deer in Concordia Parish, LDWF Announces

Published

12 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

CWD Case Found in a White-tailed Deer in Concordia Parish, LDWF Announces

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) has been reported in a hunter-harvested white-tailed buck in Concordia Parish, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) said. The buck was harvested on Richard K. Yancey Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and is the first CWD detection in a wild deer in Concordia Parish.

CWD was first detected in Louisiana in 2022. The latest positive brings the total number of CWD detections for Louisiana to 44.

Initial diagnostics by the Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (LADDL) detected CWD prion in tissue samples submitted by LDWF. Per required protocol, LADDL has forwarded the sample to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa for confirmatory testing. Final confirmation is anticipated in the coming weeks.

Due to this preliminary detection during the ongoing deer season, hunters are encouraged to submit additional hunter-harvest samples for testing. A CWD sample drop-off site is located along Highway 15 near the northern boundary of Richard K. Yancey WMA.

To obtain viable samples for testing, a fresh head including a few inches of neck is required. Data submission cards and bags are available on site. Once completed, the bagged deer head and data card should be placed in the available cooler at the CWD drop-off site.

LDWF is currently in the process of implementing the LDWF CWD response plan. More information regarding the response plan and intended mitigation efforts for this area will be forthcoming.

“We continue to count on our hunters, property owners, deer processors and taxidermists for their assistance in monitoring CWD as their continued partnership with our department will help manage the expanse of CWD in the state keeping our deer population healthy,’’ LDWF Secretary Tyler Bosworth said.

CWD is a neurodegenerative disease of white-tailed deer and other members of the Cervidae family. The disease is caused by a prion, an infectious, misfolded protein particle, and is 100-percent fatal in affected deer after an indeterminate incubation period. There is no treatment or preventative vaccine for CWD. CWD-infected deer may exhibit symptoms of weight loss and emaciation, salivation, frequent drinking and urination, incoordination, circling, lack of human fear, and subsequent death of the animal.

Although CWD has not been shown to be contagious to humans, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization recommend against the human consumption of deer known to be infected with CWD. Also, it is recommended that people hunting in areas known to harbor CWD-infected deer have their deer tested for the disease prior to consumption. LDWF provides CWD testing for hunter-harvested deer free of charge.

For more information on CWD, go to https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/cwd.

Questions can be addressed to Dr. Jonathan Roberts at jroberts@wlf.la.gov or Johnathan Bordelon at jbordelon@wlf.la.gov.

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Louisiana

What Louisiana’s broadband cost cuts mean for families, taxpayers

Published

1 day ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

What Louisiana’s broadband cost cuts mean for families, taxpayers

Louisiana’s approach to expanding high-speed internet access is being recognized on the national stage,

Recently, The Wall Street Journal highlighted the state as a model for reducing costs while accelerating broadband deployment.

In a recent editorial, the Journal pointed to Louisiana as a case study in how streamlined regulations and efficient program design can significantly lower the cost of connecting households and businesses to high-speed internet.

According to the Journal, Louisiana sharply reduced its average cost per connection after adopting updated federal guidance.

“The average cost for each new household or business connected in Louisiana fell to $3,943 from $5,245,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

The editorial credited fewer procedural requirements and increased private-sector participation as key factors allowing states like Louisiana to stretch taxpayer dollars further while expanding access, particularly in rural and underserved areas.

Louisiana’s broadband strategy has drawn attention not only for its cost savings but also for how state leaders plan to reinvest those savings.

In September, Gov. Jeff Landry sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick outlining a proposal to redirect remaining broadband funds into state-led initiatives aligned with national priorities, including artificial intelligence, education, and workforce development.

In the letter, Landry requested federal flexibility to allow Louisiana to keep and use remaining grant funds within the state, rather than returning or reallocating them elsewhere. The governor argued that reinvesting the savings locally would support long-term economic growth, innovation, and community development across Louisiana.

Louisiana was also the first state in the nation to submit a revised broadband plan under the updated federal framework, positioning it at the forefront of efficient high-speed internet deployment. State officials said the approach not only accelerates connectivity but also opens the door to broader investments that strengthen education systems, workforce readiness, and emerging technologies.

As The Wall Street Journal noted, Louisiana’s experience is increasingly being viewed as a national example of how states can modernize infrastructure programs while delivering better value for taxpayers — a model that could influence broadband policy well beyond state lines.

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