Hurricane Ida

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopalians and church leaders in the Diocese of Louisiana are bracing for extended power outages while assisting with emergency housing needs and widespread cleanup efforts as officials assess the damage from Hurricane Ida.

Ida made landfall August 29 near Port Fourchon as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds reaching 150 mph and a coastal storm surge of up to 16 feet. In New Orleans, the levees held up, averting a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall exactly 16 years earlier. The diocese reported minimal flooding damage at its churches, but Ida’s heavy wind and rain still packed a punch.

Some of the worst church damage was found at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Theriot, south of Houma. The storm ripped off large sections of the roof, and most of the church’s ceiling fell in, according to the Rev’d Robert Beazley, the diocese’s disaster preparedness and response coordinator. At least eight other churches in the diocese sustained minor roof, window, and water damage. Many churches were still without power on September 1, along with hundreds of thousands of residential customers, though the utility Entergy announced it had restored power for some New Orleans customers.

“A lot of the electrical infrastructure is down for anywhere from a week to six weeks in [some] areas, so the lasting crisis of this hurricane is going to be helping evacuees,” Beazley told Episcopal News Service by phone from Tallahassee, Florida, where he is staying with relatives. “It’s one thing to be in a hotel for three days. It’s another thing to be there three weeks.”

After making landfall, Hurricane Ida weakened as it moved north. It was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it reached southwest Mississippi early August 30 and then began making a gradual northeast turn. Entergy reported about 830,000 power outages in Louisiana and 12,000 in Mississippi as of late August 31.

The Diocese of Louisiana includes New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and other communities in the southeast section of the state—the toes of the Louisiana boot. The Diocese of Western Louisiana, which includes the northern part of the state and southern communities as far east as Lafayette, was hit hard a year ago by Hurricane Laura. It dodged a direct hit from Ida, though the storm forced churches to cancel Sunday services as residents in some parts of the diocese were among those facing mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders.

Ida’s inland path cut through the middle of the Diocese of Mississippi, dumping as much as a foot of rain on some southern and coastal communities. Even so, that region fared better than expected, and churches there sustained no more than minor damage, according to the Rev’d Scott Lenoir, the diocese’s disaster preparedness and response team coordinator.

“Full assessments will take place as soon as possible,” Lenoir told ENS by email.

The dioceses in the region are working with Episcopal Relief & Development to assess the needs of residents, especially evacuees, and provide financial relief as requested. The agency said in a news release that it has scheduled daily calls with local Episcopal leaders since last weekend. Episcopalians interested in helping are encouraged to contribute to the agency’s Hurricane Relief Fund.

“The anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, on top of COVID-19 and previous storms, contributed to the successive trauma felt by many in the South as Hurricane Ida made landfall,” said Katie Mears, senior director of Episcopal Relief & Development’s U.S. Disaster Program. “At this time, safety is a primary concern. We stand ready to help our partners as soon as it is safe to do so.”