‘I don’t have a choice’: Hurricane Ida leaves devastated Louisiana communities struggling with new reality

A week after the storm hit, thousands of residents face a continuing catastrophe amid faltering federal government assistance

As they sifted through the wreckage of their childhood home in Mount Airy, members of the Robinson family were hunting for memories.

They came in the form of a dozen family photo albums, somehow preserved amid the rubble. There was nothing much else to salvage as most of the house was destroyed. It had been in the family for generations, built and preserved with toil and hard work.