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Louisiana’s two U.S. senators and six U.S. House representatives are pushing President Biden for emergency disaster aid in the wake of Hurricane Ida, as well as aid for past hurricanes he's yet to approve.

The state’s bipartisan congressional delegation sent a letter to the president this week, emphasizing widespread storm damage and dangerous conditions and citing $10 billion in emergency aid provided only four days after Hurricane Katrina similarly devastated southeast Louisiana in August 2005.

“Hurricane Ida moved slowly through Louisiana causing catastrophic wind damage and flooding in numerous parishes and leaving nearly 1,000,000 people statewide without electricity, which experts say it will take weeks to restore," Thursday's letter read. "At this time, many communities remain without access to drinking water, food, gasoline, and basic needs, while temperatures remain in excess of 100 degrees.”

Biden was scheduled to visit Louisiana Friday and tour hard-hit areas with state and local leaders, six days after Hurricane Ida made landfall.

The full extent of the Category 4 hurricane's destruction cannot be accessed at this time, the congressional delegation said, given the immediate focus on public safety.

“Hurricane Katrina was a Category 3 storm with 125 mph winds when it struck Louisiana’s coast 16 years ago. Conversely, Hurricane Ida had sustained winds of 150 mph when it made landfall, and it was just 7 mph shy of ranking as a Category 5 storm,” the letter read.

Biden approved Gov. John Bel Edwards’ requests for a Federal Declaration of Emergency before the storm’s impact and a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration after the storm passed. Both items allow for federal assistance, with all 64 Louisiana parishes qualifying for federal emergency protective measures.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, 93,626 individual assistance applications have been approved as of Friday morning, totaling more than $93.7 million in assistance. A FEMA news release said five Incident Management Assistance Teams are deployed across affected areas of the state.

While the congressional delegation did not include a total dollar amount in their request for disaster aid before Biden’s Friday arrival, the letter cited a $10 billion emergency appropriation occurring days after Hurricane Katrina.

“This law provided $10 billion for the Department of Homeland Security’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Disaster Relief and $500 million for the Department of Defense’s Operations and Maintenance for emergency hurricane expenses to support costs of evacuation, emergency repairs, deployment of personnel and other costs resulting from immediate relief efforts,” the letter read.

Hurricane Ida is the latest storm to hit the vulnerable gulf coast state. Five other hurricanes have slammed into Louisiana over the past year: Cristobal, Marco, Laura, Delta and Zeta.

Despite repeated attempts to secure supplemental disaster relief from Biden for the series of previous storms, the associated aid has yet to be approved.

“To-date, communities across Southwest and Central Louisiana such as Lake Charles, Lafayette, Leesville and Alexandria, among others, still await desperately needed funding … to address unmet financial needs,” the letter read.

FEMA issued $69 million in grants Thursday to address debris removal and flood mitigation for hurricanes Laura and Delta, which hit in August and October, respectively, last year. Louisiana U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy welcomed the federal assistance, though it’s far short of the delegation's consistent $1.1 billion request.

“Unfortunately, we know from experience how long disaster aid can be held up. Almost a year later, we’re still working to get supplemental CDBG-DR relief for Hurricanes Laura and Delta,” Cassidy said. “However, these reimbursements are substantial to get southwest Louisiana back on its feet.”

The delegation closed its appeal by requesting a single disaster relief appropriation for the past storms and current devastation wrought by Hurricane Ida, as all supplemental aid regarding natural disasters must start with the president making a request to Congress.

"Without substantial and robust emergency appropriations from Congress for critical unmet needs … Louisiana families will continue to languish as a result of these devastating storms,” the letter read.

Those who believe in rainbows as a symbol of hope were gladdened at mid-week by these signs above the area in the days following Hurricane Ida. Diane Miller Fears of The Daily Review shot the top photo. Ochsner St. Mary submitted the second.

Chevron Corp. has announced is making a commitment of $3 million to support relief and recovery efforts underway in the communities affected by Hurricane Ida.

“As a major employer and longtime partner in several Gulf Coast communities, Chevron is fully committed to helping the region recover from the impacts of Hurricane Ida,” said Brad Middleton, vice president of Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company's Gulf of Mexico Business Unit, which is headquartered in Covington. . “We understand that these resources are vital to support the response and recovery of our communities. There is significant recovery work to be done, and Chevron stands by our fellow Louisiana residents through this difficult time.”

American Red Cross, Catholic Charities and Team Rubicon will each receive a $500,000 donation to support immediate relief efforts throughout the impacted region, including Jefferson, Lafourche, Terrebonne, St. Charles, Orleans, Plaquemines and St. Tammany parishes. The remaining $1.5 million will be distributed across local organizations focused on disaster relief. In addition, the company will match qualifying donations to hurricane relief efforts made by employees and retirees, as well as provide financial contributions to organizations where employees volunteer. Together, this financial assistance aims to help Chevron’s employees, families and communities during times of need.

Organizations like the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities and Team Rubicon are key partners in delivering that assistance. “Thanks to Chevron’s generous support, the Red Cross, alongside our partners, is able to shelter and support thousands of families impacted by Hurricane Ida,” said Don Herring, chief development officer at the American Red Cross. “We are proud to count on partners like Chevron as we work together to provide much-needed comfort and care to help people in need.”

“For decades, Catholic Charities has responded to the needs of the community after natural disasters,” said Sister Marjorie Hebert, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. “As we prepare to respond to short- and long-term needs in the community, we are so grateful for Chevron’s commitment to Louisiana and that they have entrusted us with the funding to be able to help people after Hurricane Ida.”

“Chevron’s support of Team Rubicon is truly an incredible investment in Louisiana’s recovery, especially as we begin to understand the extent of the damage left by Hurricane Ida,” says Art delaCruz, chief executive officer of Team Rubicon. “This partnership will allow our Greyshirt volunteers to make an even greater impact as we assist communities in recovering after the storm.”

Chevron has been producing and delivering energy in Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico for more than 80 years. Its Gulf Coast-based workforce supports offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico, Chevron Pipeline Company in Port Fourchon and the Chevron Oronite Company’s Oak Point plant. The company also operates the Chevron Pascagoula Refinery in Mississippi, and with its marketers, Americas Fuels and Lubricants has Chevron-branded retail stations across the Gulf Coast region.

Tri-City area residents waited in lines for gasoline this week, when they could get it, because Hurricane Ida dealt the fuel supply chain a one-two punch.

The hurricane shut down a significant portion of Louisiana's refinery capacity while increasing demand at key points. East St. Mary turned out to be one of those points.

The results have included gasoline shortages, long lines at stations that have gas, and occasionally frayed tempers.

St. Mary Sheriff's Office Patrol Commander Capt. Mat Moore said Friday afternoon that crashes at and around gas stations on the east side of the parish are happening as well as disturbances.
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Moore added that other area agencies are reporting that they have had the same situations in their areas as well.
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Sheriff Blaise Smith would like to ask the public to exercise extreme caution and slow down when driving where there are lines of cars at gas stations.
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"We have several close calls that have been captured on our dash cameras," Smith said in a press release. "Please use caution in these congested areas and slow down to prevent crashes."
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Smith said that the frustration with the post-hurricane situations is understandable, but we should try to be patient with others during this time.

Hurricane Ida hit at both the gasoline supply and the demand.

On the supply side, Ida's landfall Sunday near Port Fourchon struck at one of the largest concentrations of refinery capacity in the country.

Louisiana’s 17 oil refineries account for nearly one-fifth of the nation’s refining capacity and can process about 3.4 million barrels of crude oil per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Early in the week, the U.S. Department of Energy reported that the storm shut down production at nine Louisiana refineries, not least because they require electricity that was no longer available because of the storm. Damage assessments are still underway.

Media sources quoting state regulators say fewer refineries were put offline by Ida. Best case: The state lost more than a quarter of its refining capacity.

The department also said Ida halted more than 90% of Gulf offshore energy production, although that shortfall required more time to make itself felt in the supply chain.

When reliable electricity returned Monday to east St. Mary, Morgan City, Berwick and Patterson became re-supply points between the area where Ida did the most damage and the areas where evacuees took refuge.

Returning evacuees from the west created long lines at times this week on eastbound U.S. 90, waiting to cross the new bridge, which is still reduced to one lane in either direction for maintenance work.

For many, St. Mary was the last stop for gas, restaurants and groceries before heading into Assumption Parish and points east, where blackouts have lasted longer and the storm damage was more severe.

At the same time, residents of those affected areas came west to St. Mary to stock up on gas and groceries.

One result was gas lines, sometimes extending along westbound U.S. 90 before winding around on station parking lots.

The lines added to the burden on local police officers, some of whom were stationed to keep traffic moving safely and to keep order at stations where lines developed. Many officers had been working double shifts since Saturday because of the storm.

Social media created a new pastime: gas-spotting. Posters swap information about which stations have gas. Often, they reported that stations were on E.

St. Mary isn't alone. Gasbuddy.com reported Friday morning that 71% of stations in Baton Rouge, 66% in New Orleans and 49% in Lafayette were out of fuel.