CENTERVILLE, Ohio — More help is on the way from Ohio down to Louisiana in one of the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Ida last month.

What You Need To Know

  • Ohio construction workers who are now on the ground near New Orleans say some damage has been sitting for weeks. 

  • Crews have been doing repairs to help and say they could be in Louisiana for months helping with repairs 

  • Workers are volunteering to do some jobs to help families who can't afford the repairs

When Phill Ellies saw Hurricane Ida's destruction, he knew what he had to do. 

“We started off just serving people and it kinda turned into something bigger,” said Ellies. 

He drove more than 12 hours from Ohio to Louisiana to help.

“We just hit the ground running. We came with water, gas cans, gasoline, generators,” said Ellies. 

He works for Patriot Construction. It's a construction company made up of military veterans in Centerville, Ohio.

He said he and his team could be doing repairs just outside of New Orleans for months.

“Once we help out somebody, it’s somebody else waiting in line like ‘can you help us? A lot of people need their roofs fixed, house gutted, their windows were blown out," said Ellies.

He said some of the damage hasn’t been touched since the August storms, and the price tag for some is just too much to fix. That’s why he said they’re volunteering.

“I remember when Katrina happened and just so many people left without help and so this time it feels great to be able to help people that otherwise wouldn’t get the help,” said Ellies. 

It's all an effort to try and help families build back up what the storms destroyed.

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