Dozens of Louisiana churches destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Ida; “we need all the help we can get”

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Dozens of churches in Louisiana were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Ida last week, the Christian Post (CP) reports. The devastating hurricane has also left 600,000 people in Louisiana without electricity and has killed 63 people nationwide.

Reaching a record speed of 172 mph, Ida destroyed whole buildings as it made landfall and tore through Louisiana on Sunday, CP said. Louisiana Baptist Convention director of Missions John Hebert released a list of 70 church buildings that took a hit in the storm.

“We have churches ranging from desperate to recovering, and the desperate ones need help,” Hebert said in a statement to Baptist Press. “They’re below I-10. Insurance rates are out of this world. It’s going to be tough for them. … But most of our churches will be OK in the long run. It’s just right now, we have a crisis at hand and we need all the help we can get.”

In particular, Hebert stated, some 30 churches in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes were hit especially hard. “The churches there, almost all of them are damaged, and damaged pretty severely,” Hebert said. “Roofs are gone. Pastors that live there, their homes are affected. Probably everybody down there has to have a roof. Unless it’s a real heavy-duty steel roof, it’s gone.”

The United Methodist Church denomination has also announced severe damage to many of its church buildings. UMC Louisiana Conference Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey said in a statement: “We do see extensive damage,” Quite a few churches, parsonages, and homes owned by pastors. We want to get out to those [hard-hit] areas, but I don’t want to take fuel from responders.”

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