The Long, Slow Road to Recovery

Jerome Troullier rests near some of the debris that he pulled out of his home. (Photo by David Grunfeld.)

School custodian and longtime St. Tammany Parish, La., resident Jerome Troullier, along with his wife, son, daughter and grandson, headed to a relative's house in a safer, drier part of the state to ride out Hurricane Katrina.

When Troullier returned four days later, he found his house—a doublewide mobile home—still standing but ravaged by flooding. There was damage to the walls and floors, and nearly all furniture, appliances and clothes were ruined—a lifetime's collection.  Troullier expects the house to be uninhabitable for nearly six months, and estimates damages to approach $40,000.  Some FEMA and private insurance money is trickling in to cover these costs, but the payments won't come close to reimbursing Troullier for his losses.

At the same time, Troullier knows that he was lucky. He still has his job and hasn't missed a paycheck.  Thankfully, his school, Honey Island Elementary, reopened on Oct. 3 and Troullier, an active member of the St. Tammany Federation of Teachers and School Employees, is back at work. With the house uninhabitable, he and his wife are staying at a nearby motel; his son and daughter and grandson are still with relatives.

Restoring his home to a livable condition is going to be a long, slow process, Troullier realizes. Right now, his major struggle is to clear his house of ruined possessions, a task that is especially hard on his back and knees, he says.

Yet Troullier is resolute in the face of the monumental challenges that lie ahead. "It's basically the same thing every day right now—wake up early, go to work, finish work, go do some repairs on the house, return to the motel late at night and fall asleep.  It's tiring, but it's what I have to do so my family can come back home."  [Dan Murphy]