Gustav leaves behind plenty of debris for cleanup
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United Methodist Bishop William W. Hutchinson removes
paintings from the sanctuary wall at Shiloh United Methodist Church in
Maringouin, La.
UMNS photos by Mike DuBose.
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By Kathy L. Gilbert*
Sept. 5, 2008 | MARINGOUIN, La. (UMNS)
"Beams of Heaven As I Go" and "Thy Way O Lord" were the two hymns
that the congregation at Shiloh United Methodist Church was singing on
the day before Hurricane Gustav ripped off their roof.
Four days following the Sunday worship service, after the winds had died
down and the rain finally stopped, hymnals were still open on the
waterlogged piano and colorful artwork still hung on the church's
buckling paneled walls.
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Winds from Hurricane Gustav tore off the church roof, allowing storm water inside.
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The scene was poignant as United Methodist Bishop William W. Hutchinson
toured the wind-whipped sanctuary with representatives of the Louisiana
Annual (regional) Conference and the United Methodist Committee on
Relief. The contingent was visiting churches in the state's hardest hit
areas on Sept. 4 to assess damage from the Sept. 1 storm.
"There is water still coming in," said Hutchison, as he carefully
removed pictures from the walls and gently placed them in a sheltered
part of the small African-American church in Maringouin, about 25 miles
northwest of Baton Rouge.
Shiloh suffered the most damage of churches visited by the team. The
group made a driving tour through Maringouin, Lafayette, New Iberia,
Franklin, Morgan City, Houma, Dulac and Thibodaux. More areas of
Louisiana will be visited in next few days as assessments continue.
"We are going to have to be diligent in searching out communities
affected by this hurricane," said the Rev. Tom Hazelwood of UMCOR. "I am
thinking it is going to be easy to overlook people who are hurting
because the damage is not so obvious. We are going to have to use our
Wesleyan heritage and go to the people, not wait for them to come to
us."
'Could have been a lot worse'
The Rev. Lamar Oliver, pastor of Pharr Chapel in Morgan City, echoed the thoughts of many pastors in the state.
"It could have been a lot worse," Oliver said as walked the group along the outside of the historic church, built in 1878.
The chapel rode out the punishing winds without any of its 91 windows
breaking. A large tree behind the church spilt in two, and a rental
building owned by the church has roof damage.
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The denomination’s Dulac (La.) Community Center survived the storm relatively intact. a
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"The patio on the parsonage was lost, but that is no big deal," Oliver
said. The church led by his wife, the Rev. Erin J. Oliver, in nearby
Franklin, was also left unscathed.
The Rev. Scott Bullock, First United Methodist Church, New Iberia, was
helping volunteers pack up home-grilled hamburgers to feed National
Guard members and a VIM team from Indiana who were clearing debris under
hot, humid skies.
Sager Brown, a warehouse depot owned and operated by UMCOR in Baldwin,
La., also reported no major problems from the storm. Staff and
volunteers were evacuated to the church's conference center in
Alexandria, La., more than 100 miles away.
Volunteer coordinator Diana Dudleson said damage was worse in Alexandria
than in Baldwin. "It was terrible Monday night (Sept. 1)," she said.
"The wind tore the place apart."
Sager Brown is scheduled to reopen for business on Sept. 7 when four VIM
teams are to arrive from Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida and Texas.
A United Methodist Native American church and community center in Dulac,
La., faired better in this storm than in 2005's twin terrors, Katrina
and Rita. Dulac is usually one of Louisiana's hardest hit areas because
of its location on the tip of the state.
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Clanton Chapel United Methodist Church in
remote Dulac, La. is
relatively unscathed.
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"I am so relieved," said the Rev. Amy Mercer, deputy director of the
Louisiana Disaster Recovery Center. Speaking by phone to a friend who
had worked the past three years to repair the church and community
center, she said "it will probably still break your heart but it is not
too bad."
Seagulls, egrets and mosquitoes made themselves at home in the water
surrounding the Native American church, Clanton Chapel, and the
community center. Mercer said they had just finished renovating one of
the buildings.
Wind vs. flooding
While not as dramatic as predicted by weather forecasters, Gustav was
still a very damaging storm, Hutchinson said. "I don’t want to oversell
it or undersell it—because the day will come when we will have a worst
one," the bishop said.
The most pressing immediate need is for work teams to help clear debris.
"What we need now are chainsaw gangs that can saw wood and get these
trees out of the way so power can be restored," he said. "There are
still some 800,000 people without power in the state."
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United Methodist leaders tour the UMCOR Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, La. aaaaaaaaa
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Volunteers also will be needed to cover homes with tarps and later with
new roofs. Cleanup crews and mission teams wanting to assist should
contact the conference disaster response ministry at laumdisastermin@bellsouth.net or at (225) 346-5193.
Hutchinson said the conference still has two more years of work with
Katrina and Rita and will add Gustav cleanup and rebuilding to that
workload.
"People can volunteer to come work for Katrina, Rita or Gustav, and we
will keep those three separate. I think we are going to be able to do
what we need to do with the structure that is already in place."
Mercer said Gustav was an important storm—not necessarily because of the
damage it left behind but because of the preparation leading up to it.
"Louisiana needed to know it could survive another hurricane, and we did," she said.
To aid Gustav recovery work, send financial donations to UMCOR Advance
No. 3019695, "Hurricanes 2008, Hurricane Gustav." Mail checks to UMCOR,
P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087, and write the Advance number and name
on the memo line of the check. Credit-card donations can be made online.
*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service reporter based in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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