[Reporter: Steven D'Souza] For Tameka BaBb this is anything but a relaxing cookout.
The barbecue salvaged from a nearby yard.
The coals and lighter fluid given by a neighbour.
With no power she needs to cook what she can before it spoils.
Money is scarce.
I'm not able to afford a generator to keep everything up and going.
[Reporter] Her neighbourhood was ravaged by Hurricane Laura.
Her apartment where she lives with her girlfriend and their three kids
is barely livable.
Neighbours come and go but her options are limited.
She's out of work.
She has asthma so in a pandemic shelters aren't an option.
They've applied for aid but it's a slow and difficult process.
We don't have anybody trying to help us.
They tell us to go to these shelters
but how can we get there if we don't have a vehicle?
How can we get anywhere we don't have a vehicle?
I didn't expect it to be like this.
Across town Farrah Higginbotham struggles to get by on social security checks.
Everybody's being asked to leave but we
don't have nowhere to go.
And so we're just trying to make it the best that we can.
[Reporter] Aid groups have delivered food and supplies
so that and faith keep her going.
If it wasn't for God, I wouldn't be this happy.
[Reporter] Lake Charles took the brunt of the hurricane's force.
Median income here is just $22,000.
One in five live below the poverty line.
The scale of the recovery and cleanup
effort here is immense
and officials are warning that power and water may not be restored for weeks.
This Walmart parking lot has become a lifeline
with aid groups and regular folks handing out water, food and supplies.
Studies sow recovery efforts aren't always equitable
and disasters amplify existing
inequalities.
Tameka says she saw that firsthand
when she and some neighbours went out after curfew looking for food.
And a police officer told us to go back home.
One of the guys said what home?
I don't even have a home.
He said, I don't care.
[Reporter] Even in the disaster.
Even in a disaster like this
and that's not right, it's not right.
[Reporter] Right now though she can't focus on that
when there's the simple matter of feeding her family.
For them to survive, if I have to starve and they eat.
I'm gonna make sure to eat.
Just one obstacle on a road to recovery
littered with them.
Steven D'Souza, CBC News, Lake Charles, Louisiana.
