Reeling from 2 hurricanes, survivors need support

Even before Hurricane Laura finished decimating the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast, one thing was clear—destruction meted out by Laura and her older sister, Hurricane Hanna, far exceeded resources to provide adequate response. So, your help is needed.

Category 4 Laura made landfall early Thursday morning, Aug. 27. At the time of this posting, disaster officials said accurate assessment of needs could not be made until winds died down.

Rick Burnette, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s domestic disaster response coordinator, noted the summer’s violent storms have been compounded by the realities of COVID-19.

“Obviously, the pandemic forms a dangerous backdrop for our upcoming disaster response decisions and actions,” Burnette acknowledged. He cited two major “response realities”:

• “To prevent the spread of the virus, we do not expect or encourage volunteer teams to travel from distant locations to engage,” he said. “If we do engage in long-term recovery efforts this year, less distant volunteers—those less than one to two hours away—will be vital. To keep everyone as safe as possible, guidelines for disaster response during the COVID-19 pandemic have been developed and are accessible via this link. 

• “Because past CBF volunteer teams have tended to fund their own efforts, such as purchasing building materials needed for recovery tasks, fewer volunteers during the pandemic will mean less volunteer-generated funding of recovery efforts.”

Fellowship Southwest Coordinator Marv Knox contacted a dozen pastors—senior pastors and missions pastors—across the region in the days leading up to Laura’s landfall. He will continue to contact them, and FSW will report on their situations as information becomes available.

Meanwhile, the pandemic/hurricane realities Burnette described for Laura also are playing out in the Rio Grande Valley, which felt the force of Hurricane Hanna a month before.

There, vulnerable communities remain under water and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has not intervened to assist the victims.

“FEMA is not going to help, because for them, there were not enough families who had their homes destroyed,” reported Jorge Zapata, associate coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Texas. 

Hurricane Hanna tore through the Valley in late July, dumping more than 15 inches of water, flooding homes, ripping off roofs and destroying cars. Colonias, unincorporated villages primarily inhabited by immigrants, were among the most impacted communities.

CBF Disaster Response, CBF Texas, Fellowship Southwest, Hearts4Kids and numerous churches joined efforts to provide long-term recovery assistance to the families affected by the hurricane. More than 30,000 bottles of water have been delivered, 250 gift cards have been donated and 14,000 families have been fed.

“In September ,we are going to begin helping those families who lost everything with the rebuilding of their houses,” Zapata said, noting the rebuilding effort is spearheaded by CBF Disaster Response. “There’s over 600 families whose houses were completely destroyed. We are going to begin by helping six families to build their homes."

Many families affected by the storm have gone to live with their neighbors and relatives, increasing their probabilities of being infected and spreading COVID-19. The Valley has been a coronavirus hotspot, with more than 1,500 deaths in the past six months.    

Adding to their concerns, many Valley families “do not have the technology nor the resources to go back to school,” Zapata reported. Lack of computers and access to wireless Internet networks worsen the prospects of children complying with schools’ standards this semester.

The Valley is one of the poorest areas in the United States. An estimated 54.8 percent of its residents lived in poverty before the pandemic, economic recession and Hurricane Hanna hit the region. Unemployment, uncertainty and social isolation have compounded to heighten the pain families are experiencing in the colonias, Zapata said.  

"Domestic violence has surged, and the children are experiencing emotional trauma," he said. "Many don’t have access to technology or food stamps. Even the middle class is suffering from this pandemic, since they don’t meet the criteria to be on food stamps."

In the midst of all this misery, Valley churches are strengthening their ties with the community. “Churches are impacting communities more than ever,” he noted. "Local governments are working with churches to help the communities."

In the past two months, Hearts4Kids, a nonprofit Zapata founded, has delivered 410 tons of food to 75,000 people in the Valley through 90 churches. Fellowship Southwest has provided ongoing resources to Hearts4Kids, bolstering its ministry in the Valley. Hearts4Kids received $7,000 from the CBF Coronavirus Emergency Relief Fund. This week, it received two other grants arranged by Fellowship Southwest.

"We have given more than 75,000 gallons of milk to the community in two months," Zapata said. “You have to give the positive news too. God keeps working."

To support CBF’s Domestic Disaster Response Fund, which funds overall response, click here.

To contribute to a fund Fellowship Southwest has established to provide additional support for Rio Grande Valley victims of Hurricane Hanna and Southeast Texas victims of Hurricane Laura, click here.

To visit CBF Disaster Response’s web page, click here.