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Louisiana couple thankful to still be alive after Hurricane Ida destroys home

Looking at the destruction around her, Annette Fontenot said her faith is helping her get through it, but her fiancé and dogs are helping her survive it.

MONTEGUT, La. — In Terrebonne Parish, the need for help is so great that supplies at the Civic Center ran out early and people were told to go home and come back tomorrow.

The parish was devastated by Hurricane Ida, including the small community of Montegut where we met Kevin Sampay and Annette Fontenot.

They’ve called Montegut home for 11 years.

They rode out Hurricane Ida inside their home, which is now destroyed. The porch fell, the roof blew off and windows were busting all around them.

“I wasn’t going outside, it would have blown me away,” Sampay said. “It still freaks me out. I’ll never do this again. Never.”

They’re now living in a shed next to their house that miraculously didn’t blow away.

“No toilet, no bed, we sleep in the chair,” Fontenot said. “He built a little box for our dogs to sleep in.”

When we met them, they told us they needed supplies. So, we drove them to a distribution site up the road. Like so many in the area, they have to start over.

“This was our home together and we lost it,” Fontenot said.

Thankful to still be alive, Fontenot says she knows everybody needs help, she just wishes it would get here sooner. Right now, they’re just trying to survive the days after a night they can’t escape.

“I never want to go through anything like that again,” Fontenot said. “When I close my eyes, I hear the wind and the rain and I see him hollering and I try to calm him down.”

It’s the smaller communities like Montegut that they fear will be forgotten, creating a desperation she’s never felt before.

“I don't want to ever go through it again,” Fontenot said. “It's like I want to give up. I ain't going to lie. I want to go to that bayou and jump in it and just end my life.”

Looking at the destruction around her, faith is helping her get through it, but her fiancée and their dogs are helping her survive it.

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