Disaster Relief teams are on site in Lake Charles and DeRidder; volunteers working in hard-hit Louisiana communities.
Samaritan’s Purse volunteers are already hard at work in southwest Louisiana after Category 4 Hurricane Laura slammed into the state early Thursday morning with 150 mph winds. Many communities along its path are still silent and empty from evacuations.
Our teams are busy on the ground in two hard-hit communities. Two of our Disaster Relief Units—tractor trailers filled with relief supplies and equipment—are set up in Lake Charles and DeRidder. A third Disaster Relief Unit departed our Southwest Ministry Center this morning en route to Jennings, Louisiana, a community east of Lake Charles. Volunteers were deployed in Lake Charles early Saturday morning.
VOLUNTEER IN LOUISIANA LAKE CHARLES | DERIDDER
Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains are also in Louisiana providing spiritual support to homeowners and offering the hope found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The deadly storm made landfall Aug. 27 at Cameron, Louisiana, pummeling coastal areas with heavy rains and destructive winds. Laura underwent one of the fastest and strongest intensifications in Gulf history—quickly ratcheting up to wind speeds of 150 mph—before hitting the Bayou State. Laura continued tracking along the western border of the state as a hurricane and then as a tropical storm before later moving into central Arkansas.
Samaritan’s Purse anticipates working alongside a strong support network of churches in this region, which is all-too-familiar with the ravages of such natural disasters.
Please pray for those affected by Hurricane Laura and for our teams as they serve those in need.
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Note: Story originally published on Aug. 26 and updated through Aug. 29.
First Baptist Church of Lake Charles suffered extensive damage along with the rest of the surrounding area.
