A heavy downpour reverberated my mini camper van in Hammond, LA as I edited photos from my fourth day covering the impacts of Hurricane Ida. The golden hour thunderstorm signaled an early end of my day making photos — and once I filed those, I’d leave and start my trek back to South Carolina. At least that was the plan.

My phone rang. It was Jerry, an editor at Getty Images inquiring if I’d like to stay a few more days. One colleague had tested positive for Covid-19 and the other had to return home because of contact with him. I was the only photographer left on the team covering Ida.

“Where do you want me aiming for?” I asked.

The goal? To see how far south I could get. Ideal destination, Grand Isle, at the bottom of the Mississippi Delta on Louisiana’s only inhabited barrier island — about thirty miles from landfall of the category 4 storm. After sending the last photos, I drove east to Mississippi to refuel, about an hour, and then back west another hour to overnight at the Pilot Travel Center near the Louis Armstrong International Airport.

I left shortly after sunrise in the morning, headed south on Rt. 90 away from New Orleans, still dark without power. I didn’t think I’d be able to make the goal. For sure, the road would be washed out, obstructed, or authorities would halt my advance. For 90 minutes I drove through the disaster area, the first half trailing behind a National Guard convoy. The landscape was ravaged.

By the time I reached the final bridge to Grand Isle, I was in disbelief. Other than hundreds of utility lines strewn across the asphalt, the roads were clear. There were portions of the road destroyed, but they were passable. And no police roadblocks turned me around. I had arrived on the first day residents and home owners returned. They’d have two days to check on their homes and fish camps before officials wanted the town clear to begin work returning basic infrastructure.

Curfew was an hour before sunset, which I overstayed a little and headed back north to find an wireless signal. Outside of almost getting lost twice in the blackness of the powerless delta, I retraced my route from the morning. I found none until a return to the same Pilot center from the pervious overnight. Apparently, I’d be having another 90 minute drive in the morning.

As a photojournalist, seeing the impacts of Hurricane Ida were some of my most experiences from 2021. You’ll find some of those moments here, along with a few dozen others. See you next year.

Sean has been photographing SC since 1997 when he joined the Gamecock Newspaper at the University of South Carolina. He came to school to study computer science — but those classes sucked. After receiving a degree in Media Arts, Sean worked as an assistant manager at a record store and began freelancing with the local daily newspaper. After a few years and multiple gun-point hold-ups, Sean found a job tending bar at a small live music venue, balancing the service industry with freelance photography for over a decade. He lost his job after telling his boss off at the bar one night and took on photography full time in 2015. Since then, Sean has become a regular contributor to Getty Images, The Associated Press, The New York Times and many others. You can see more of his work at www.seanrayford.com.