By Baptist Message staff
ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – With the Gulf Coast region closely monitoring Francine, Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief teams have activated an incident management team and placed its teams on standby.
According to LBDR Strategist Stan Statham, the organization is working with the American Red Cross and Salvation Army to coordinate any needed mass feeding operations and Baptist conventions in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas are on standby to assist Louisiana’s teams.
“Pray for that storm to dissipate,” Statham told the Baptist Message. “Obviously, that would be the best thing for everybody involved. Pray, a lot of our own DR volunteers who are in the path of this storm and that makes it even more difficult. Some of our most dedicated folks are in the path of the storm, and the good news is we have a lot of help outside our state available, so that’s a blessing.
“Pray for volunteers traveling,” he continued. “And pray that we’re able to secure equipment that we need.”
Francine, which formed into a tropical storm Monday morning and the following evening was upgraded to a hurricane, is expected to make landfall as a Category 1 hurricane sometime late Wednesday, though forecasters have stressed the storm could become a Category 2 or higher. This is the first Atlantic storm since Ernesto on Aug. 20.
Ahead of the storm, the National Weather Service issued a hurricane warning from Sabine Pass to Grand Isle. A storm surge warning was issued from High Island, Texas, to the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana.
Gov. Jeff Landry issued a state of emergency for the state that allows parishes to have the necessary resources “to help protect the life, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Louisiana.”
Landry, in a news conference on Monday, urged residents to be cautious and vigilant.
“We don’t want to downplay this event,” he said. “But we also do not want people to panic.”
Additionally, individuals, schools and businesses made their preparations.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered in parts of Cameron Parish and Grand Isle.
Sandbags were made available to residents across the state and declarations of emergency were issued by officials in multiple municipalities. Motorists in multiple communities were seen lining up for gasoline at service stations and stocking up on groceries on Monday morning.
Exxon Mobil, Shell and Chevron all announced they were evacuating staff members from their production platforms in the Gulf, according to Reuters.
Louisiana Christian University postponed a Town Hall meeting planned for Sept. 10 to a later date and called off classes scheduled for Sept. 11.
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