January 3, 2021 — For more than six hours fifth-generation Houma oysterman Jacob David Hulse, his girlfriend Lindsey Willis and his dog Change huddled in an the oyster shop of friend Kenneth (Keno) Templet struggling to keep the walls and roof from caving as the more than 140-mph winds of Hurricane Ida continuously battered away at the structure. When the winds started to subside, Hulse thought he had gone through the worse of it. Like many Louisiana fishermen are finding out, his troubles were only beginning after the storm was finished.
“I feared for my life, I really feared for my life,” Hulse told Gulf Seafood News. “You hear everyone say it sounds like a freight train, well it does. A freight train that keeps coming and coming and coming, never sure when it ends.”
For the 33-year-old Hulse his four-month continuing nightmare started around three in the afternoon on Sunday, Aug. 29th as the first hurricane force winds started to batter the bunkered down trio. His 73-year-old mother Gail Hedrick Hulse, with whom he shares his house, had evacuated to Kentwood with his older brother Jason. The young oysterman had stayed behind to finish boarding his home, as well as securing his boat and truck.
“By the time I had finished it was too late to escape what was coming,” he said. “I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic trying to evacuate, so my friend Keno told me to come on over to the oyster shop. He was staying to try and save $20,000 worth of oysters he had in the cooler.”