New Orleans Struggles to Get Back on Its Feet After Ida

U.S.|New Orleanians conflict to find their footing aft yet different battering by a hurricane.

• Aug. 31, 2021, 12:58 p.m. ET

NEW ORLEANS — Nearly each of the built metropolis survived this time. But the misery has already arrived successful New Orleans, aft Hurricane Ida punched up the metropolis connected Sunday night.

It was particularly pronounced connected a agelong of South Claiborne Avenue, a busy, workaday postulation artery crowded with state stations and convenience stores. Nearly each of them were closed connected Tuesday, but the spot was thrumming with nervous, antagonistic vigor — and with radical suffering and scheming, oregon not definite wherever to spell oregon what to do.

On the country of Josephine Street, dozens of Spanish-speaking time workers crowded astir a newsman erstwhile they heard the speech crook to food. There were astir 40 Hispanic men, each hoping to drawback a cleanup job. But nary vans oregon trucks came by. The prima was beating strong. The men were sweating.

Gerardo Caal, a 41-year-old antheral from Guatemala successful a shot cap, served arsenic a benignant of unofficial spokesman. “I don’t cognize what we are going to do,” helium said. “There’s nary food. And we don’t person energy to cook.”

A fewer yards away, a enactment of cars stretching for blocks ended astatine 1 of the fewer unfastened state stations successful the area. Malcolm Scott, 60, said helium had been waiting for hours to get gas. He was not trying to get retired of town, helium said, but to determination from New Orleans East — which was devastated by flooding during Hurricane Katrina successful 2005 — to his girlfriend’s spot connected the 3rd level of an flat building. He said helium was acrophobic that the levees mightiness inactive beryllium breached.

As for leaving town, helium chuckled, darkly, “Ain’t obscurity to go.”

“People don’t privation New Orleans radical nary more, since Katrina,” helium said. “They deliberation we’re the worst of the worst.”

Mr. Scott said helium had nary thought however to get entree to immoderate of the exigency services that were popping up astir the city.

“How’re you going to spell to the website, erstwhile each the phones are chopped off?” helium said. “We don’t person nary food. Hopefully FEMA volition come, but it’s getting existent unsafe close now.”

A artifact away, a New Orleans Police Department cruiser was parked extracurricular a Family Dollar store that appeared to person been looted; its beforehand doorway was smashed in. The officers would not comment, and successful mid-conversation, they zoomed disconnected toward the dependable of different sirens.

Inside the store, bottles of hair-care products and nutrient were strewn connected the level on with breached solid from the beforehand door. Two employees were signaling the harm connected their phones. “I conjecture we’re not coming backmost to enactment for 2 months,” said 1 of them, a young woman. “We knew this was going to happen.”

A achromatic sedan pulled up with a household inside. The idiosyncratic said that the store did not person thing for sale.

“No diapers, nary nothing?” a dependable said from wrong the car.

The young idiosyncratic shrugged.

A antheral stepped retired of the car, looked implicit his shoulders, and stepped done the spread successful the Dollar Store door.