LAKE CHARLES, La. – Residents of Texas and Louisiana who are struggling to put their lives, homes and businesses back together in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike are receiving assistance from members of S.C. United Methodist Volunteers in Mission Early Response Teams.

Billy Robinson of North, disaster coordinator of the S.C. UMVIM, responded with a team of volunteers to the Lake Charles, La., area the week of Sept. 22-27 to help with recovery efforts there.

Robinson says when Ike roared ashore, many of the impacted families were still in the process of rebuilding homes ravaged by Hurricane Rita in 2005. Once again, many of those same people lost their homes and most of their possessions, Robinson said.

Robinson’s team consisted of 11 United Methodist volunteers from South Carolina. Members of the team in addition to Robinson were Terry Rawls of Pomaria; E.T. and Judith Smith of Columbia; the Rev. Ken and Dottie Phelps of Manning; Gene and Suzanne Failmezger of Summerton; Bill and Meg Roberts of Lexington and Wayne Goff of Greenwood.

“We headed out early each morning to the Cameron Parish, which was literally devastated by Hurricane Ike as it also was by Rita. We are used to doing typical Early Response duties including chainsaw work, placing tarps on damaged roofs and mucking out flooded homes,” Robinson said. “This was a totally different type of devastation here, where there was little wind damage but massive flood damage.”

He said the major damage to the southwestern portion of Louisiana was from a water surge of up to 15 feet that came in at high tide, flooding thousands of homes as it raced more than 30 miles inland.

The floodwater left in its path black muck, silt, sawgrass and death, he said. Fish, snakes and rats were found in people’s yards and in their houses, Robinson said.

“Animals were dead everywhere in the flooded areas, and their stench was getting worse day by day,” he said.

Robinson’s team helped the local United Methodist Committee on Relief by shuttling materials like water and tarps from a distribution point at Sweet Lake UMC to a centralized warehouse. The group also spent hours mucking out flooded homes.

“The homes we worked on were ones the United Methodist Church helped clean and repair after Hurricane Rita. The home owners were very grateful and explained that this was their inherited land that they love. They do not have the finances to relocate. Most did not have enough insurance to cover damages due to extremely high flood insurance prices after Rita,” Robinson said.

One of the residents helped by the team was Dorothy Tolbert, who is in her 80s, is diabetic and has terminal cancer, he said.

“Mrs. Tolbert had a home full of antiques and sentimental memorabilia. Six inches of water had flooded her house ... We focused mainly on ripping all of the saltwater-soaked carpet out of her home and were able to save the majority of her possessions,” Robinson said.

The S.C. UMVIM team also assisted Junius Daigle, an elderly handicapped man whose electricity had been off for 10 days and had only recently been restored.

“His refrigerator had not been properly cleaned out, and it had a terrible odor in it. We basically took the entire inside of the refrigerator apart and cleaned it, leaving him with a refrigerator that he could use. This is not the typical ERT work that we expect to do,” Robinson said, “but as long as we are helping others ... as God directs, then we are being true ambassadors of Jesus Christ. To be used by God to help others in such dire times of need is not only a blessing to the people we help, but a series of ... blessings are also bestowed upon us that are beyond all measure.”

The Thomas family – Jody and Michelle and children Bashby and Bubba – of Hackberry, La., also received help from the United Methodist volunteers who spent an entire day helping them, cutting out water damaged sheetrock, paneling and insulation in walls and tearing out cabinets. This family was also still trying to recover from Hurricane Rita.

“All of their appliances were brand new and now had to be thrown away after being flooded with saltwater,” Robinson said. “The family had struggled to purchase furniture and construction materials to get back into their home after Rita and now were back in the same devastating situation they were in three years ago.”

“We prayed with them and gave them comfort gifts and big hugs before leaving,” he added.

Robinson said the entire town of Hackberry was under at least four feet of water following Hurricane Ike.

“This sad story was the same all along the coastal regions and bayous in many other towns and communities. One lady, who lives 19 miles from the ocean (Holly Beach), told us she found a 3-pound catfish underneath her wood stove. At a Catholic church in Hackberry, at least 20 vaults and caskets had popped out of the ground in the cemetery and either floated into piles or floated away,” he said.

“Mosquitoes were worse than any of us had ever seen,” Robinson said. “While outdoors, you had to wear long sleeves and pants and cover yourself with bug spray. Inside the homes the mosquitoes were just as bad since all windows and doors were open.”

Robinson said as far as the eye could see, people’s possessions were piled along the road in front of their flooded homes. He said while many of the residents were devastated and frustrated by their losses, all were very grateful for the help they received from others.

“We have learned a lot from this mission trip, which should help us better prepare South Carolina for disasters as well as our responses to disasters in other states,” Robinson said. “Our thoughts and our prayers will stay with these people for a long time. We pray that God will fill them with hope, love and vision and meet all of their needs.”

Two more S.C. United Methodist Volunteers In Mission teams from Lexington and Prosperity will head to the Gulf Coast to help with the recovery this week, he said.

For more information about the S.C. UMVIM, please call 803-539-8429.

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