‘Everything is a fight’: the island still reeling months after Ida battered Louisiana

Grand Isle took the first punch from the category 4 hurricane that became one of America's most powerful storms and the worst in the island's history

David Sears spent six weeks sleeping outside on the splintered remains of his home on Grand Isle, Louisiana. The house was destroyed by Hurricane Ida at the end of August but Sears had nowhere else to go. So he returned to this barrier island, out in the gulf of Mexico, and lived on his front porch for over a month.

Grand Isle, with its sweeping white sand beaches, rows of bobbing shrimp boats and 1,000 permanent residents, took the first punch from Ida, the category 4 hurricane that became one of America's most powerful storms when it landed here in the summer. And four months later the scars have barely begun to heal.