More than a million in Louisiana are still in the dark, Monday night, as many across the state begin to pick up the pieces left behind by Hurricane Ida.
Native Tulsan Matt Almon and his family escaped Ida and traveled to Florida to wait out the storm.
“As we were watching TV and watching everything hit it felt like watching Katrina again," he said. "It's heartbreaking to see all the devastation."
Almon moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in 2004 for law school. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall and tore through Almon's new home city.
"We ended up being displaced for four months before we could go back," Almon said.
Again, he waits to return home as the city of New Orleans works to restore power to all its residents.
"Nobody knows what's going on yet," he said.
The fear of that unknown first crept up on Almon and his family Friday when they decided it was best to get out of The Bayou.
“We were having Katrina flashbacks and PTSD experiences the whole time because just like Katrina this one snuck up on us very fast," Almon said.
Pictures and video sent to him Sunday from neighbors and friends who stayed behind made those visions a reality.
“They were starting to freak out a little bit they were talking about the houses creaking and the wind just pounding in and the rain into everything…water seeping through walls," he said. "They had a pretty harrowing five or six hours.”
The Category 4 hurricane is now a tropical storm. Almon hopes he and his family can return soon to help rebuild from the wreckage.
“We’re hopeful that it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been," he said.
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