After Hurricane Laura struck Louisiana in the early morning hours of Thursday, Aug. 27, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC) and Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) teamed up to help the aftermath for local residents.
With the help of a local Sonic restaurant, the SBTC and Louisiana SBDR started serving meals and chainsaw work over the weekend for those in need. Some residents won't have power for weeks, if not months according to Philp May, president and CEO of Entergy, a power company in Louisiana. "Customers should expect extended power outages lasting weeks," said Phillip.
Phillip expects the recovery process to be extremely difficult because the damage caused by the hurricane is extraordinary. "We expect the recovery to be as difficult and challenging as we have ever faced in the past," said Phillip.
Residents of the affected area lost access to clean, running water due to the hurricane. City Administrator John Cardone said there is a possibility of broken pipes all over the city, causing the water problem.
"If they got the water lines on the private property, we'd need to go there and locate it. If people are evacuated, we don't know where the leaks are," said Cardone.
"We understand the criticalness of getting water to our citizens. We are bringing in engineers and generators to work on this. We just took a massive hit with this storm," Cardone added.
"The tree damage from Hurricane Laura is horrific. It is the most widespread tree damage I have ever seen," said Steve Masters. The students who volunteered were one of the first collegiate SBDR teams in the nation, who also gathered in 2006 Hurricane Katrina to help out the community. The Baptist Press reported that "with trained leaders, and equipment, they cut up trees and hauled debris to the street at nine homes."
According to the Baptist Press, "in the near future, SBDR volunteers from multiple states plan to travel to southwest Lousiana to cook meals and continue with the recovery and rebuilding effort."
To donate to Hurricane Laura Southern Baptist relief effort please visit
