By Baptist Message staff
NEW ORLEANS, La. (LBM) – Hurricane Zeta made landfall in Louisiana, Wednesday, the fifth major storm to do so in the state this year.
Zeta came ashore around 4 p.m. with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, just one mph short of Category 3 status. The storm made landfall in Cocodrie, a fishing village 30 miles south of Houma.
More than 456,000 businesses and homes in the state remained in the dark around 2:30 p.m, Thursday. The National Weather Service office in New Orleans reported winds of 112 mph at Bayou Bienvenue, 101 mph at Shell Beach and 100 mph at LaPlace.
The storm was responsible for at least one death in the state. New Orleans EMS’ Twitter account reported that emergency crews had responded to a report of an electrocution fatality in the city. In Terrytown, 25 residents of an apartment building were evacuated after part of the building collapsed, WDSU-TV in New Orleans reported. One person was being treated for injuries.
Meanwhile, the New Orleans Advocate reported that two riverboats and two barges tied up at a marine salvage yard in Lafitte broke loose on the Barataria Bay. Salvage yard owner Tom Dinh was able to slow the two riverboats enough to pin them to a corner of the Leo Kerner Bridge connecting Lafitte to Barataria. However, one of the barges appeared to hit the bridge as it passed beneath it, the Advocate said.
LBC CHURCHES, MINISTRIES
Several Louisiana Baptist churches sustained damage, including First Baptist Church, Golden Meadow. Pastor Matthew Chouset said the church’s roof was damaged, two awnings were destroyed, a door was blown off its hinges and a storage shed roof was destroyed.
The New Orleans Baptist Association reported that First Baptist Church, Avondale, had roof damage which caused flooding inside the building, and Troy Gause, pastor of Cross Culture Church, New Orleans, had a tree fall on his home.
John Hebert, missions and ministry team director for Louisiana Baptists, told the Baptist Message that teams are assessing damage and disaster relief teams are being lined up to begin work as early as Friday in New Orleans.
Steve Horn, executive director for Louisiana Baptists, said he is praying for everyone experiencing setbacks from Zeta and previous hurricanes this year.
“My daily Bible reading today was in James 1,” Horn said. “The words ‘Consider it a great joy whenever you experience various trials’ capture my attention. Certainly, we have had various trials this year. Then we read ‘because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.’ We are called to endurance. Finally, we read, ‘And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.’ Certainly I am praying that for all of us these trials that call us to endurance will have full effect in our lives. We certainly don’t want to waste the trials that we have endured.
“Our Louisiana Baptists team is working now with our disaster relief volunteer zone leaders to get a correct assessment of the situation,” he continued. “We will respond according to the need and our available resources. We need all Louisiana Baptists to be praying and be ready to respond by giving and, if possible, going to Southeast Louisiana. Finally, we still have people hurting in Southwest Louisiana that need our help.”
