By Philip Timothy, Managing Editor LAKE CHARLES – Entire towns were wiped away. Numerous fishing villages were smashed beyond recognition. Roads were impassable. Livestock by the hundreds were left stranded. Cars and trucks floated down flooded streets and the only means of getting around was by boat. In an area known for its fabulous seafood industry and recreational fishing, the stench of dead shrimp and fish hung in the air. On Sept. 24, Hurricane Rita, the fourth most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico, slammed into land between Sabine Pass, Texas, and Johnson Bayou, Louisiana, as a Category 3 hurricane with 120 mile-per-hour winds and a 17- to 20-foot storm surge that sent saltwater as far as 10 miles inland. Yet Rita is viewed as “the Forgotten Storm” because the nation’s attention, then and now, was on Katrina, which made landfall four weeks ahead on Rita on Aug. 29. For example, during the aftermath of Katrina, two thousand newspapers wrote more than a half of a million stories about the storm for more than two years. Rita, on the other hand, garnered national headlines for only about three days. But Rita was … [Read more...]

  By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA – She’s known as the Forgotten Storm. But for those residents of southwest Louisiana who survived Hurricane Rita, the storm will always be a memory that will live on for years to come. The hurricane made landfall at around 7:40 am between Johnson Bayou and Sabine Pass on Sept. 24, less than a month after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the southeastern part of Louisiana. The storm reached land, it weakened, but not before dumping heavy rainfall on a widespread area of the state. More than 1 million people were without power at one time during the storm, which traveled up the central part of the state before leaving behind homes, communities, businesses and lives in need of repair. Still, Louisiana Baptists are thankful for the light God provided through the storm and aftermath by the ministry of disaster relief teams and others who came to their aid. “When we look at the hurricane, what we saw was lots of physical damage to properties and in the middle of that churches responded like we do with disasters,” said Bruce Baker, director of missions for the Carey Baptist Association of churches in Southwest Louisiana. “We had churches from … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer CAMERON – First Baptist Church in Cameron is like the town – badly damaged by past hurricanes but always coming back to survive. Hurricane Audrey nearly destroyed the town in 1957 and almost 50 years later, Hurricane Rita tried to do the same to the community that sits alongside the Gulf of Mexico. Among the last to leave during Rita were Paul and Cyndi Sellers. Paul was on duty as a sheriff’s deputy and Cyndi was capturing the final moments of reporting for a newspaper. The Sellers managed to escape and rode out the storm from their son’s home in Denham Springs. They returned to find their home, community and church nearly gone. Instead of choosing to count their losses and close, the Sellers believed God wanted to continue the work of First Baptist Church in the community. “Paul and I always thought from the beginning that God wanted a church in Cameron,” said Cyndi Sellers, who also serves as the church treasurer. “Some people said to tear down the building and merge with another church in the parish. We said we are the parish seat and we need a church here. God continued to remind us that we were making the right decision by the way people kept showing up to help us … [Read more...]

By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer Much like during Hurricane Katrina four weeks before, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams were a powerful force in the rebuilding process in areas affected by Rita. Disaster relief crews from throughout the US came to southwest Louisiana to help. The first team from Louisiana to respond was Rolling Hills Ministry located in Ruston. David Abernathy, director of Rolling Hills and blue hat – leader – of the unit recalls how they were serving with Katrina operations when they received the call to go to Leesville, after serving in Hammond for several weeks after Katrina. Fatigued from serving for more than a month in Hammond, volunteers from the unit responded within 48 hours after Rita made landfall. When they arrived at First Baptist Church in Leesville, electricity was out and the crew did not have any food on hand. The unit had exhausted their supply during Katrina and was thus unprepared to respond to another storm of such great magnitude. Abernathy’s wife managed to find some Pop Tarts inside the church building to feed the crew. The following day food did arrive and for the next three weeks the volunteers worked nearly 12 hour days. The humidity was so intense that three … [Read more...]