With planning, persistence and compassion, AP revisits a region still reeling from 2020’s hurricanes.
Ever since Hurricane Laura hit southwest Louisiana on August 27, Deep South correspondent Rebecca Santana and New Orleans photographer Gerald Herbert wanted to follow up with residents. But in a busy hurricane season it wasn’t until December that plans finally came together.
To find subjects, Santana researched for weeks, reaching out to people she’d interviewed on previous stories and monitoring a hurricane survivor Facebook group to find residents and learn about their concerns. She also talked with government and non-governmental officials to get a picture of how recovery efforts were going. She and Herbert then went out to the Lake Charles area for a two-day trip where they met in person with some of the families Santana had reached out to, saw the devastation for themselves and went door to door in various neighborhoods to talk to people.
Santana’s planning also tipped them off to a couple whose ill-timed wedding was finally happening, and volunteers put them in touch with two families who were living in tents because their houses were destroyed. Herbert ended up going back to Lake Charles eight different times to meet with the families, even giving up his Christmas holiday to spend Christmas Eve sleeping on an air mattress in a gutted house so he could spend Christmas morning with one family before flying back to New Orleans to cover a Saints game. He also shot video for all the stories.
Cristin Trahan eats food brought by volunteers, inside the tent where she now lives with her husband, Ricky Trahan, in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 17, 2020, months after the region was hit by Hurricanes Laura and Delta.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Amid the rubble of the family’s destroyed home, Cristin Trahan speaks about her worries to a volunteer who is assisting them in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Cristin Trahan looks at a new shower head and portable water heater after arriving home from work in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 4, 2020. This night would be her first hot shower since Hurricane Laura in August.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Months after Hurricanes Laura and Delta, Cristin Trahan cries inside a tent where she and her husband live on the site of their destroyed home in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Cristin Trahan checks the calendar on her phone as she discusses upcoming food distribution events with her husband, Ricky Trahan, in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 17, 2020.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Emily Pascale walks past boxes as she prepares to get married, Dec. 4, 2020, inside the home of her in-laws in Grand Lake, La., which was heavily damaged by Hurricanes Laura and Delta. The wedding was postponed by the series of storms that battered Louisiana in 2020.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Christi Monticello, center, and Brandy Monticello go through their daily routine with their sons, Corrin Ash, right, and Brennan Ash, inside the camper where they live outside their heavily damaged and gutted home, in the aftermath of Hurricanes Laura and Delta in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Katelyn Smith stands with her 1-year-old son Ricky Trahan III, as she prepares to change his clothes in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 4, 2020. The family lives in a camper and tents after their home was destroyed by Hurricanes Laura and Delta.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Katelyn Smith watches her 1-year old son, Ricky Trahan III, amid the rubble of the family’s destroyed home in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Cristin Trahan washes dishes with a garden hose in an improvised sink while talking to Caine Theriot, a volunteer offering assistance, amid the rubble of the family’s destroyed home in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Cristin Trahan closes the windows of her tent to change from her work clothes in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 4, 2020, at the site where the family’s home was destroyed by Hurricanes Laura and Delta.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Cristin Trahan hunts one of their dogs while looking though bags of donated goods amid the rubble of the family’s destroyed home in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
Cristin Trahan hugs Tiffany Theriot, back to camera, founder of the charity Cajun Commissary, after Theriot surprised Trahan with a Christmas tree brought by a volunteer, on the property of the family’s destroyed home in Lake Charles, La., Dec. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
The result was two print stories, three video packages and a photo essay. The Lake Charles newspaper and the Sun Herald of Mississippi both ran stories on their front pages. The wedding story ran on the front of the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s metro section and swas picked up by 174 other news outlets. A reader reached out to see how they could help and a Houston man delivered supplies. Santana was interviewed for radio and Herbert’s videos were used on websites including ABC News, USA Today and Fox News.
For uncovering the compelling stories of hurricane victims months after the storms had faded from the headlines, Santana and Herbert earn AP’s Best of the States award for the week of Dec. 21.
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