Hurricane Ida Badly Damages Home of Goldman Prize Winner Sharon Lavigne and Others in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley

By Julie Dermansky and Sharon Kelly
DeSmog
August 30, 2021

Residences near where Formosa plans to build a sprawling petrochemical complex were severely impacted by winds from Ida, fueled by the Gulf’s unusually warm waters.

On Sunday afternoon, Hurricane Ida made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, making it one of the most powerful storms to strike Louisiana in recorded history. Ida made landfall on the 16th anniversary of the devastating Hurricane Katrina.

And around 10:00 p.m. that night in St. James Parish, a wind gust from Ida lifted most of the roof from the home of Sharon Lavigne. Lavigne, inside, prayed that the roof wouldn’t fly away entirely, she told DeSmog Monday morning. And indeed, one portion of the roof remained, over a bedroom where the 69-year old retired special-ed teachersheltered as Ida howled around her. Ida’s sustained wind speeds at the time exceeded 100 miles per hour, National Hurricane Center reports show, with higher gusts.

Read the full article here.