The impact of Hurricane Zeta on those living in New Orleans can be seen throughout the city, from the widespread power outages to fallen trees. Reagan Laque, a junior at Tulane University, told The Hullabaloo that her mother fell on especially hard times due to the aftermath of Zeta, as her car was crushed when four transformers fell on it.

Laque’s mother, Kimberly, had recently moved to a house on Oak Street to be closer to Laque and her brother, also a Tulane student. She shares that her mother has experienced a multitude of hardships in the past, including her husband passing away, which led to an increase in financial stress. 

“We got kicked out of our house almost immediately because she just didn’t make enough money and a lot of familial drama,” Laque said. “So she moved to be closer to us and get out of somewhat of a toxic situation at her old house, and as soon as that happened, Zeta happened and you know transformers just fell right on top [of] my mom’s car, which we’ve had for a very long time.”

Laque said that her mother was already experiencing a stressed financial situation because there were moving expenses that needed to be covered, and with the car being Kimberly’s main form of transportation, it has been difficult to maintain a steady income. 

“My mom kind of broke down crying immediately because that’s our primary form of transportation and … she works in Kenner … [so] the streetcar is not gonna get her all the way there,” Laque said.

Despite the visible damage to Kimberly’s car, Laque has yet to hear back from Entergy, the company who owns the transformers, on how they plan to assist the family in restoring the car. In light of this, Laque and her childhood friend decided to start a GoFundMe page to gather funds to help her mother. The page did not receive much traction until the nola.com article was published, and Laque says she has been overwhelmed with the generosity people have shown. 

“It’s been a very nice feeling to feel supported as part of … a community and a lot of people have been donating, and even our neighbors are like ‘Hey, we’re your neighbors, hope everything with your car works out,’” Laque said. 

While there have been people negatively commenting on the situation, Laque remains assured that there is still a large amount of people who care and are willing to help out during this unfortunate time. 

“Bad things still happen, good things still happen; I just want to get the car thing figured out because my mom has … no transportation and it’s been kind of rough, just a huge financial burden,” Laque said.