Family floats wheelchair-bound grandmother to safety during Francine flooding

KENNER, La. ( WVUE /Gray News) - As floodwaters rose around Brenda Harris' home in Kenner during Hurricane Francine, she faced a seemingly impossible decision.

How does she evacuate her 81-year-old, wheelchair-bound mother?

With water levels on the street reaching up to her hip, Harris and her family had to improvise a rescue.

"We had to take my baby's flip mats because she's in gymnastics. So, we took her mats, put [them] outside in order to float my mom next door," Harris said.

The rescue was partially captured on home surveillance video.

As they floated her mother to safety, Harris' 7-year-old daughter waded through the floodwaters to rescue the family dog.

Harris' neighborhood, Lincoln Manor, is surrounded by Canal No. 12 and Canal No. 13, and another canal that stretches from Interstate 10 to Lake Pontchartrain.

The canals overtopped during the storm around the same time nearby drainage pumps failed. The neighborhood flooded and forced Harris to evacuate her family to a neighbor's home on higher ground.

The flooding caused extensive damage to Harris' house, leading to mold and mildew growth. Harris recently drove her mother to stay with relatives in Baton Rouge after being diagnosed with a sinus infection due to mold exposure.

Despite the damage and health concerns, Harris' application for federal aid was denied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"They're telling me that we still haven't been declared a disaster area yet and we can't get assistance," she said.

FEMA aid has been extended to only eight parishes so far: Ascension, Assumption, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James, St. John, St. Mary, and Terrebonne.

Jefferson Parish, which includes Kenner, was left off the list.

And Harris is not alone. Her neighbor, Beulah Robinson, was also denied federal aid, forcing her family to continue living in their flood-damaged home.

"I need a FEMA trailer. I need to get out of that mildew house," Robinson said.

Robinson says she's tired of waiting for help and searching for answers while garbage and debris pile up across the neighborhood.

"Lincoln Manor, one of the oldest Black subdivisions in Kenner, needs help," Robinson said. "I'm calling FEMA. I'm calling Kenner. You are not getting answers. They said there is a site where you can go on, but no one is giving you the address to this here site."

Community leaders are calling on local and federal officials to take action.

"Someone should come to the rescue, not tomorrow but today. Now," said Bishop Adam Allen of Glory of God Community Church. "It is denying you of living with your family where you pay taxes, where you pay all this money. We get no response."

FEMA agents toured some of the hardest-hit areas of Kenner on Wednesday. Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng remains hopeful that the parish will be added to the disaster area list.

"Most of the structures that flooded are in Kenner. Their team is working on damage assessments there, but we will far exceed the thresholds to be included in this declaration for FEMA," she said.