The anxious shiver that the projected path of Hurricane Francine induced in many Louisiana residents can be traced directly back to the last major storm to hit the state, which caused billions of dollars in damage and left a trail of devastating consequences that are still being widely felt years later.

Francine is expected to cut a somewhat similar path as that storm, Hurricane Ida, did in 2021. Ida was considerably more powerful, arriving in Port Fourchon, La., as a Category 4 storm with maximum winds of 150 miles per hour. In a stinging coincidence, the storm made landfall on Aug. 29, the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting Louisiana.

Francine’s arrival ends a reprieve that has been much appreciated even as residents recognized it would only last for so long.

The break was a breather that followed an especially punishing stretch for Louisiana in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, Hurricanes Laura and Delta pounded the southwestern corner of the state. Hurricane Zeta also arrived as a Category 3 storm that year, and its eye passed over New Orleans.

But for the part of the state most likely to bear the brunt of Francine, it was Ida that inflicted the most trauma. Ida caused flooding and shredded homes, and had left a destructive path that reached New York.

In Louisiana, much of the damage was concentrated in and around New Orleans, particularly in Jefferson Parish, which is just west of the city. The disruptions included weeks without trash pickup in some parts of New Orleans, giving way to a putrid stench and the proliferation of maggots.

But perhaps the most enduring consequence has been the soaring cost of insurance, stoking a crisis with the industry that exploded after the storm. Insurance providers went bankrupt or left the state, and the ones that remained raised their prices — so high in some cases that homeowners simply could not afford coverage, leading to foreclosures.

The population in those areas has declined. New Orleans and the surrounding area had the steepest population drop of any metropolitan area in the country between 2020 and 2023, according to census estimates. Experts attributed the decline to the storm and its financial impacts.