New Orleans couple describes experience fleeing to Austin to avoid Hurricane Ida

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The couple was told it could be weeks before they return to their home.

AUSTIN, Texas — Like thousands of people in Louisiana who fled New Orleans for nearby cities ahead of Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm, one couple is now finding shelter in Austin. 

Madison O’Malley and Blake Corley, a couple based in Uptown New Orleans, are staying with their friend in Austin, with no idea when they can return to their home in New Orleans. The couple was in the process of moving into their brand new home, but that was put on hold because of Hurricane Ida. 

KVUE interviewed the couple about their experience.  

Tori Larned: “First of all, how are you two doing right now? And just explain to me what’s going on over there for you.”

Blake Corley: “Well, everything kind of happened so quickly. Originally, it was a tropical storm and work was not even canceled until late that [Friday] afternoon. They said if we had evacuation plans, we could leave. We really thought, those of us who were leaving, maybe it was a little silly. I’m glad that we did because the hurricane was a lot more intense than I think we anticipated.”

Madison O’Malley: I ended up picking him up from work and we left Friday. Our normal travel time would have been about two hours to where we were going and we were stuck for between five and six hours just to get to Baton Rouge. Then, on the way we went west again towards Austin, but just a lot of traffic and long travel time.”

Corley: “We had anticipated staying in Houston originally just because I grew up in between New Orleans and Houston. Where I grew up was under voluntary evacuation. When we got to Houston, there was nowhere to stay. It was absolutely insane. So we called my friend, Ally, who lives here in Austin at around midnight and we said, ‘Can we come stay with you?’ We got to Austin at about 3:30 a.m. So it was absolutely insane.”

Larned: “You two have been going through a lot. Do you know how your home is doing back in New Orleans?”

Corley: “So we have a little bit of an idea. Most people I know ended up evacuating at the last minute whenever we realized it was going to be a Category 3, which is what Katrina was. Then it ended up being a Category 4. I had a friend who was a nurse so she could not leave, so this afternoon she was able to go into my house. I actually just bought this house and haven’t even moved in yet. I’m moving on Wednesday, so a lot of anxiety surrounding that. Unfortunately from my home, there was minor damages, some shingles off the roof and things of that nature, a tree was down, the fence blew away. A lot of people around us were not as fortunate. A lot of my coworkers, who live south of New Orleans, essentially, from what we are understanding, it is people just going around, just trying to see who is still out there. The part of New Orleans where she and I live, there are a lot of trees down. The power obviously is completely out and over a million people do not have power right now. From what the alerts we are getting on our phone from the City of New Orleans, they told us if we have evacuated, anticipate not coming home any time soon. Friends that we have who work for the energy company said it will be roughly like three weeks to a month before power is restored.”

Larned: “Have you started working on a plan for yourselves as far as when you go back and what you’re going to do in the meantime?”

Corley: “I think coronavirus really prepared us for something like this because everything was remote for so long. I also think growing up in Louisiana and you [O’Malley] having lived here for an extended period of time as well, this is something that, every hurricane season, we are filled with so much anxiety that we are always prepared for the worst. So I think the best way to just get through something like this is to just live in the right now. Right now, we are here. Right now, we know what the state of my house is. Right now, we know what the power situation is and to just go on with life the only way we know how to: work, school. That is all you can really do in a situation like this.”

O‘Malley: “I think right now a lot of it is planning for how we are going to carry out repairs and how to start getting that together.”

Corley: “That is really the hardest part of all of this, is the aftermath, the post-storm work. Louisiana is no stranger to disaster and loss. Just last year, the southwestern part of our state was decimated by Hurricane Laura. What we have learned is it is really the aftermath that is the worst. It is dealing with the insurance companies. It is filing a claim. If there is just one piece of advice I can give to anyone who is here in Austin or anywhere locally who has evacuated, it’s find people locally who can take pictures of your damage, find your homeowner’s insurance policy, begin to document what has happened post-storm, because this is not going to be an easy journey. This is going to be long and drawn out and we have to be our own advocates. We’ve learned that through Katrina, we have learned through Laura. We have to really fight for ourselves in order to get the resources we need to rebuild. 

Larned: “Both of you have lived there, Blake, 10 years, Laura, seven years, which means you’ve lived through or been near hurricanes that have hit in the past years, so where does this one fall in terms of what you have experienced?”

O’Malley: “I think this one snuck up on us a lot, and I think we didn’t really think it was going to be that big of a storm. I have never had to have a mandatory evacuation. I know it was kind of too late because of the timeframe of this, but it sure felt like that just because of the situation leaving the city.”

Corley: “I have lived in Louisiana my whole life. I grew up in the southwestern part and by far, I think this is definitely the worst storm we have ever faced. Thankfully, I think we are more prepared as a people. Even if you go through New Orleans now, you’ll see all of our neighbors going through the streets helping one another. I think we’re just more conditioned for this kind of a situation. So maybe it is not as dramatic as events in the past. A Category 4 hurricane hitting us and knocking our power grid is definitely a more significant event than I have ever faced before. We weren’t under a mandatory evacuation because of the timeframe and like the mayor, Mayor Cantrell, said, time was not on our side. She could not legally issue a mandatory evacuation. But for all intents and purposes, I mean, we were under a mandatory evacuation, which is really scary.”

Larned: “What can people do to help you?”

Corley: “I think, and this is the biggest thing, don’t forget about Louisiana. As soon as the cameras go off and the next story unfolds, don’t forget about us. Like I said, the journey and the hard part really is just beginning and we are really going to need everyone in the country, our neighbors in Texas, to really be on our side and help us lobby our members of Congress to bring in resources for people who have been affected. There are people who have lost absolutely everything and we really don’t know the death toll. We don’t know what even that looks like now. So I think look at us collectively, look at us as your neighbor, look at us as fellow citizens, and just imagine what you would need if you were us. And don’t forget about us.”

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