Missouri resident Nora Indovina has not returned to her late mother’s Barataria home in two years, saying the visits have become too emotional.
“I try to fight every day to make her proud,” Indovina said, “It’s sad that she didn’t get to know her grandson very much. She passed too soon.”
Her mother, Emily Boffone, drowned in 2021 when six feet of water trapped her inside her home during Hurricane Ida.
Sunday marked five years since a neighbor found her mother’s body.
“When I spoke with her, she said she was chest deep in water,” Indovina said, recalling one of the last moments she spoke to her mom.
Indovina initially hoped to rebuild the family home, which had been in their family for over 40 years.
“Since everything was in her name when she passed, it was nearly impossible for me to get any kind of grants or anything like that to help me rebuild,” she said. “When somebody passes away, you kind of want to stay where it happens. And that’s what I wish I could have done. But the powers that be never let that happen.”
At the time of Hurricane Ida in 2021, Indovina was able to save her father’s ashes and her mother’s dog, Baby Girl, but even those connections to her mother have since been lost.
“It’s going to sound weird, but I was holding on to her like she was my mom. You know what I mean? Like that last living thing, and it was rough. And we had to put Baby Girl down,” she said.
While Indovina now lives states away, her mother’s memory is still honored locally.
On Friday, the town of Jean Lafitte added Boffone’s name to the maritime memorial.
Boffone had worked for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office for over 30 years.
“On behalf of the Town of Jean Lafitte, the Town Council, Councilman Tim Kerner Jr., and State Representative Tim Kerner, we extend our love and continued prayers to Emily’s family. As we mark five years since Hurricane Ida, we remember not only the destruction of that day, but the people whose lives were forever changed,” Mayor Yvette Crain said.
Indovina said she hopes people will remember her mother for the person she was.
“I just want to let people know how much of an amazing person she was, how big her heart was,” she said. “I try to live like that.”
Boffone lived to be 65 years old.
READ MORE:Missouri woman remembers mother lost during Hurricane Ida
