Patience is running low as Kenner continues to rebuild one year after Hurricane Ida

Reminders of Hurricane Ida surround Jonathan Perron's Kenner home.

A patch of dead grass on his front lawn, where a pile of storm debris lingered for months, has yet to grow back. His backyard fence remains knocked over. And a blue tarp blankets his roof.

"We're still working on the clean-up," Perron, 29, said. "Unfortunately, we didn't have insurance, so it's been rough."

Ida's racecar-fast winds ravaged a huge swath of southeast Louisiana; Kenner, located on the unenviable east flank of the storm's eye, took some of the hurricane's worst. As Ida's first anniversary arrives, many of the city's residents remain in limbo as they wait on insurance money or try to raise enough cash to make repairs.

Perron, who manages the produce department at a Rouses Market in Kenner, worries another big storm will blow through and set him back even further.

Perron needs about $5,000 to replace his roof and doesn't expect to have the extra cash on hand until his tax return is processed next year.

Losing patience

Arthur Scott, 58, who also has a blue-tarped roof, said an adjuster sent by his insurer, the state-run Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., told him he's owed close to $29,000. But so far he has only received around $6,000.

"You can get very little done with what they give you," he said. "Heck, the fence cost more than $6,000."

His patience running out, Scott said he was giving his insurer until the end of August to pay up. If they don't, he plans to file a lawsuit. "My time is real thin," he said.

Leonardo Casiano, 52, figures Kenner is about 75% "up to par." His home in Kenner's hard-hit University City neighborhood needed new windows and siding, which he said his insurance covered.

But, he added, "It's been a slow process."

On Katrina's anniversary

Ida made landfall near Grand Isle on Aug. 29, the 16th anniversary of the metro area's signature hurricane: Katrina.

Packing 150 mph winds, Ida pummeled Grand Isle and the surrounding area, swamped Lafitte and then moved north across the region, walloping bayou communities and causing severe damage in places like Destrehan, LaPlace and Kenner. Hurricane conditions extended to the north shore, where Lake Pontchartrain and other waterways flooded low-lying areas and more than 2 million cubic yards of debris choked yards and streets, mostly trees that were snapped or uprooted by the wind.

Nearly 12,000 homes in unincorporated Jefferson Parish suffered damage from Ida, parish data shows. In Kenner, nearly 300 structures had major damage and countless others were in need of some storm-related repair.

Ida's winds destroyed two buildings in Kenner's main City Hall complex, and forced much of its operations to relocate to the empty Macy's store at the Esplanade Mall.

Slow pace

Kenner Mayor Michael Glaser, who took office in July, hopes to have city workers out of the Macy's and into city-owned buildings by the end of the year. His administration has already moved some workers back, and reopened gyms shuttered by the storm.

Glaser, who served two terms as Kenner's police chief, said he doesn't understand why repairs and assessments of city buildings weren't completed sooner.

He compared the previous administration's approach to that of a botched crime scene, in which a body -- in this case, a building -- is left unattended.

"It almost sounds like they weren't touching anything until way down the road," Glaser said.

The Jefferson Parish public schools in the city are a different story. All 11 are fully operational, though repairs continue at some and enrollment is at 8,005 students compared to 7,884 in February, a school system spokesperson said.

Money and contractors

One year after the devastating storm, some Kenner residents say finding reliable contractors remains a struggle.

Seyli Molina, who is an administrator on the popular community Facebook page, We Are Kenner Bruh, said it's been a "headache" finding contractors to work on her storm-damaged home at an affordable price. Rising costs are also an obstacle.

Suzanne Buras, who is 66 and lives on a fixed income, said she gave up her homeowners insurance years ago because she could no longer afford it. She received around $7,000 in assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fix up her home after Ida, which she used to patch her roof and repair part of her fence.

But it didn't go far.

"It's just that supplies were so expensive that it went so fast," said Buras' daughter, Christy Rorabaugh, 47.

Like many in Kenner, Perron said he's taking the recovery "one day at a time," Without the resources to rebuild, he has turned to his community for help.

One friend had extra shingles. Other friends helped him put up drywall and insulation in his front room, where the ceiling had caved in.

"It's always good to have friends," he said.