美国国家公共电台 NPR Locals In Flooded Rural Areas Of Louisiana Say Aid Is Slow To Arrive（在线收听）

Locals In Flooded Rural Areas Of Louisiana Say Aid Is Slow To Arrive

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In southern Louisiana, some areas are still flooded nearly two weeks after the region was inundated by historic rain storms. Aid has been slow to arrive in rural areas of the state. NPR's Kirk Siegler sent this report.

KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: If you had to pick one consistent sound in southern Louisiana right now, it'd be these huge industrial fans trying to dry everything out. They're humming along in the three-room city hall in the small town of Maurice. Wearing a white polo shirt with black embroidered letters that read mayor, Wayne Theriot moves a couple of boxes and a broken chair so we can talk.

WAYNE THERIOT: You're in city hall, what's left of it.

SIEGLER: The computers are ruined. The staff and their spouses are hauling out boxes of files into a modular building next door that will serve as the temporary city hall.

THERIOT: One of my biggest challenges is I lost my home - trying to deal with that as well as trying to deal with this.

SIEGLER: He and his wife are now living in an RV that they happened to buy a little while ago. He figures they'll be in it for the next three or four months. But by the grace of God, he says, this town will get through this.

THERIOT: I know that you're from out of state and maybe unaware of our culture - Cajun culture - and that is we help people. We don't wait. We buckle down, pull up our boots and head out and help people.

SIEGLER: Another reason they didn't wait is because, until recently, a lot of places around here were cut off by flooded country roads - hard or impossible for aid to reach. And just like in Baton Rouge, the need here is overwhelming.

WAYNE LEBLANC: You want some water?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: I'm good...

LEBLANC: Yeah?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: ...But it looks like you need some. (Laughter).

LEBLANC: Yeah, I could use some.

SIEGLER: Down the road, Wayne LeBlanc is digging into his ice chest in the back of his pickup. He's tired, hot and sweating from dealing with his house and workshop, which took in about 2 feet of water. He filed his FEMA claim more than 10 days ago - no word yet.

LEBLANC: If you wait on government or you wait on the help from the government-wise - I mean, FEMA hasn't even showed up yet.

SIEGLER: He can't wait. Otherwise, the black mold will take over. So with the help of his family and some students from the school where his daughter teaches, LeBlanc gutted his entire house. Battered furniture and debris is now piled up almost 15 feet high on the side of the road.

LEBLANC: And they all pitched in. Everybody came here and busted butt.

SIEGLER: LeBlanc is staying with his sister nearby. His camper is parked in her driveway.

LEBLANC: So I'm fortunate. I've got a roof over my head. I can go home and go in the afternoon and sleep at night. But there's a lot of people in Lafayette and Vermilion Parish that do not have a home.

SIEGLER: He's still trying to clean out his workshop.

LEBLANC: Let's see.

SIEGLER: He's ripping particleboard off the wall, wearing a back brace for support.

LEBLANC: You can see that water just stayed there, you know?

SIEGLER: Nearby, in Abbeville, Mara Brown is getting used to the sound of the fans and this industrial humidifier running constantly in the first floor of her home.

MARA BROWN: I've never - I have never seen dehumidifiers this big before.

SIEGLER: After several days of calls and no-shows, her family finally found a willing contractor to help them with the demolition.

BROWN: We've never been through this before, so we didn't know. And the contractor was good enough to tell me, look, I've never done this before, you know, so I'm just learning as you are.

SIEGLER: In her backyard, the murky floodwaters of the Vermilion River are still just a few feet away. The trunks of oak and cypress trees are still underwater.

BROWN: I never thought the river would come up this high. If you look out there, you'll see how far the river is. With all the hurricanes, it's never come up maybe half of what it came up.

SIEGLER: And people like Brown are nervously watching the forecast right now with two possible hurricanes building to the south. She has no plans to start rebuilding until hurricane season is over. Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Maurice, La.