Two woman accused of looting hotel damaged by Hurricane Ida, Louisiana cops say

Two women are accused of stealing items from a hotel that has been closed since it was damaged by Hurricane Ida in 2021, Louisiana police say.

Officers caught the women taking items from a hotel in Galliano, Louisiana, on June 3, according to a news release from the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office. Galliano is about 70 miles south of New Orleans.

The owner of the hotel told police that the property had been closed since August 2021 due to damage from the hurricane. The women were each charged with one count of looting because the hotel could not be secured, the release says.

Ida was a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in southeastern Louisiana. The hurricane directly caused four deaths in Louisiana and indirectly caused 26 deaths in that state, according to the National Hurricane Center. It caused about $55 billion in damage in Louisiana, and Lafourche Parish, where almost every building was damaged, was one of the worst-hit places in the state, according to the hurricane center.

This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 3:37 PM with the headline "Two woman accused of looting hotel damaged by Hurricane Ida, Louisiana cops say."