By: Ellen Karunwi

Emotions in Hurricane Ida

Sunday, August 29, 2021 was the start of one of the most tragic hurricanes, Hurricane Ida. Hurricane Ida took a horrifying turn in New Orleans for many reasons: the city was flooded and it made it complicated for people to drive, many homes were destroyed, the power was shut down automatically, and people began to feel homeless, helpless, and weak.

The author, Tim Craig, wanted to point out that whatever happened in New Orleans, Louisiana took a very disastrous toll, so the tone of this newspaper was very aggressive and informal. The main logical reasons were that people were anxious, frustrated, and worried that they were homeless and that they were living under poor conditions. Aside from these types of situations, the one he pointed out the most from all of this was when Jennifer Avegno, Director of the New Orleans Health Department said, “health and police officers are doing their best to get people into the best shelters they can find, but some of them refused to stay outside.”
This newspaper was also to let the readers be aware of the tough situations the residents of New Orleans were going through during and after Hurricane Ida. Contrasting it to Hurricane Katrina several years ago, Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans hard with its massive wind and storm conditions, however, it turned out to be much worse than Hurricane Katrina. With Hurricane Ida, it destroyed a lot of homes, and that made things complicated for the residents. They were forced to live in shelter homes until they could sort out this mess. Furthermore, another specific detail for this is people were also starting to blame the people who run these shelter homes because they were saying that they should have done more to help them get the aid they need to keep themselves alive after Hurricane Ida. Nobody should have the need to be living under these terrible conditions, as some residents pointed out.
The bus problem was also another issue in New Orleans, local organizations reached out that the only way for people to get out of these tough situations was to put them on buses and move to another city in Louisiana and to Texas so that the Entergy would have enough time to restore all of the power.

Although people had to go through a lot during the aftermath of Ida, Craig also mentioned that all of its power in Louisiana would start coming back next Saturday, so that is at least the good news that everyone is lucky to hear.
However, even if the power was coming back on, one false statement Avegno said at the end of the article was, “They are on their own for the rest of the afternoon into the overnight hours.” That type of statement is very unacceptable because she and the other organizations should have done more to help the NO residents. It is unlikely for them to not live in these smudgy and hot conditions out in the street, they need to get help right now.

Avegno also said, “Public Safety really can’t get to them now,” they should get to them now, which is also another problem with the shelter home teams and organizations, they think they should let the residents defend for themselves without helping them and let them suffer and die from this hurricane. Instead of helping the residents seek shelter, they decided to care less and let them ponder off the streets, sleeping, and letting them suffer from this massive heatwave. It was also not okay for the shelter exports to not find enough shelter for some of the people, which is another reason why they wander around this humid heat sleeping on the streets feeling helpless.

About the power, another problem with it is of two things:
First, people were out of gas, and were finding it hard to go to the grocery stores to buy food for their families. Second, most of the grocery stores were closed as well, so that is another reason why people are not allowed to go in and get the materials they need. This was also a scary time, it was as if they were dying of starvation. Nate Mook, chief of the WCK(World Central Kitchen) said, “We’ve got folks who can’t come pick up food from us anymore because they don’t have gas in their car.” Mook was aware of the situation and that he suggested that he give out fresh fruits to them, along with celebrity chef Jose Andres. In Jacob Bogage’s article, it gives a valid lesson about grocery stores after Ida’s aftermath is that even though grocery stores in Louisiana were closed, the WCK(World Central Kitchen) would not let the New Orleans residents live without hunger and power. So they did the logical thing by delivering food like grapefruits, oranges, bananas, meats, etc.

So far from Ida’s situation, not only does it talk about the damage it caused in New Orleans, but what people had to say about it and how they felt. Because from the looks of things in New Orleans they had to say about Ida, clearly their emotions are filled with hatred, sadness, and frustration.

55 year old Renetta DeRosia said, “We were under the understanding that they were evacuated to another nursing facility.” Another quote she said was, “It’s horrible.” 50 year old Sabrina Cox said, “I don’t trust anyone. I just want to physically see her. As soon as I get a physical address, I am going up there and checking on her myself.” In other words, Cox was worried about her 88 year old aunt Bonnie Coretti. That is the type of emotion that all of the people are feeling right now, they cannot seem to keep up like this. Not only these two women were worried about what is happening right now, but how their families are doing because they were so worried that all they wanted was to make sure that they are doing okay.

According to the web source, Bailey, Berman, and Cusick predict about the frustration, anxiety, and worry that these two women are feeling right now. Because both Cox and DeRosia felt worried and upset for their loved ones, this goes to show that not only the after effects of Ida destroyed New Orleans itself, but it also destroyed the fact of how worried people are about their families. It is so horrifying for these people to worry about their loved ones so much that they do not know what to say about it.

Moreover, Bailey, Berman, and Cusick pointed out about the way Sabrina Cox and Renetta DeRosia said when they began to worry about their loved ones. This is also another sign of an aggressive and informal tone. Both of these women became so intensely upset that they feel like they do not trust anyone, including what the shelter homes are handling with the NO residents. They also feel like they should have also done more to help them, just as it was mentioned in a couple of paragraphs. Nobody should not go through these types of conditions, and it is very important that these organizations start experiencing what was going on in Louisiana and start taking care of matters immediately for these people so they won’t have to keep living in the streets and start suffering from this massive heat.

From the emotions and the way Sabrina Cox and Renetta DeRosia felt and explained their situations was very upsetting, angering, and frustrating. They were so worried and angered at the way they stated to the reporters that one of their family members and the conditions and comfort they were facing when they got into the home facilities during Ida. They also felt and said that they were very worried and concerned for one of them that they wanted to see them so badly to make sure that they are okay, that is also another key source with people and their loved ones during Hurricane Ida. Out of all the disastrous things that have happened with Ida, people were also dealing with the loss of their family members. Worrying was also another emotion when it comes to hurricane ida because people had grown concerned for their loved ones, and one perfect example came from Sabrina Cox and Renetta DeRosia. These two women were so worried because they wanted to make sure that their loved ones were not injured and they were okay.

According to the CNN video, Hurricane Ida’s aftermath went out nasty and horrifying, the trees were knocked down, the power cord was shut off, and the streets were filled with water. It was a catastrophic time in New Orleans, and so far in the last weeks, some people got injured during the strong winds and it was terrible to see them go through that.

Overall, the whole moral of the disastrous Hurricane Ida’s attack on New Orleans, Louisiana on August 26, 2021 to September 4, 2021 was to let the readers be aware of these types of situations that happened during that time with the strong winds, flooded cities, and the reactions people had to say before, during, and after it. Hurricane Ida was a scary time for everyone in New Orleans.

In conclusion to this, it’s tone was aggressive and informal because everyone in New Orleans was feeling agitated, frustrated, and upset at the outcomes of this monstrous weather. Nobody should not be suffering from this, they must find the best shelter for them to be safe, and that is what the organizations were not doing. The goal of this topic was to give out very logical information on Hurricane Ida and it’s outcomes on New Orleans, Louisiana, and how organizations were holding up on it. The audience are the residents of New Orleans because they were the ones that gave out very important reactions on how this tropical storm impacted them during the start and end of it. Overall, hurricane ida was a tragic time for everyone and that nobody should not have to suffer from this very humid heat and be forced to sleep in the highways. For the organizations, it is their job to provide food and shelter for the residents, and mostly, to bring the electricity back.

Work Cited

Bogage, Jacob. “Hurricane Ida power outages fueling shortages in groceries and other essentials.” Washington Post, 3 Sept. 2021, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A674185524/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=90941125. Accessed 26 Sept. 2021.

Craig, Tim. “In New Orleans, dozens of the city’s homeless remain unsheltered amid Hurricane Ida.” Washington Post, 29 Aug. 2021, https://go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=cuny_ccny&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA673658812&inPS=true&linkSource=interlink&sid=bookmark-AONE

Bailey, Holly. Cusick, Ashley. Berman, Mark. “New Orleans begins evacuating residents amid outages as power could come back on in coming days.” Washington Post 19 Sept. 2021

Romero, Nadia. “Here’s what a part of New Orleans looks like after Hurricane Ida.” CNN 30 Aug. 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V874CZ8ngfM&t=76s