Displaying items by tag: Hurricane Ida

Many churches have either been destroyed or severely damaged by Hurricane Ida. The Baptist director of missions said that more than 80 Southern Baptist churches in Louisiana were damaged by the storm. ‘We have churches ranging from desperate to recovering, and the desperate ones need help now. Insurance rates are out of this world. It's going to be tough for them. But most of our churches will be okay in the long run. It's just right now, we have a crisis and need all the help we can get.’ Thirty of the most severely damaged churches were in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes. Methodist Bishop Swanson said it is too early to gather damage assessment. New York churches were also severely damaged. A parish pastor describes the damage as ‘ten times worse than the last hurricane.’

Ida, the strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in Louisiana, hit as Category 4 while the region's hospitals were under siege from rising Covid cases. Debbie and her family cowered on a stairway landing while four feet of muddy water rushed into her home. She and her son had earlier safely rescued her elderly parents from their home, but now they prayed the roof would not collapse on them all. ‘God blessed us that we all survived,’ she said after they were rescued. Her experience is just one of the tens of thousands rescued by crews in high-water trucks, helicopters and swamp boats desperately searching for survivors. Pray for Louisiana communities beginning the huge task of clearing debris and repairing damage. They are facing the depressing prospect of weeks without electricity in the stifling, late-summer heat because the region's power grid is down. On 2 September, New York City declared a state of emergency after flash flooding: see