Flooding in Covington, Louisiana

The historic flooding in Covington, Louisiana hit home on March 9, 2016 as calls from friends and neighbors seeking help evacuating their homes came in. As the weekend unfolded the calls didn’t slow down; they just turned to requests for help in clean up as flood waters receded leaving homes ravaged by muck.

Because ReachGlobal’s crisis response ministry center is located in Covington, we were able to help out immediately with the physical and emotional needs of those affected. But it’s not all about those needs, it’s about the spiritual needs and how Jesus is our provider and protector.

It was Mallory Wendling’s, a ReachGlobal staff member, first new response. Read below as she lays out her thoughts on those first few days:

“It is said there has not been this much flooding in Covington since 1983. Friday night I went to bed, sure I would be able to sleep in and rest up. I had not been feeling great and knew with rest I would be back up and going like normal. This hope of resting all day soon dissolved when I received a call asking me to meet at the warehouse leading into an evening of work to prepare for a Sunday workday.

The waters quickly rose in the Covington area forcing many people to evacuate their homes. As I was working alongside of a few individuals I overheard one repeatedly expressing, ‘I can’t handle this, it reminds too much of Katrina.’ We are praying this disaster will bring the churches in the area together and build the Kingdom here.”

Walking around, devastated, it was easily understood, without question that this homeowner had lost nearly everything after the flood. As I walked into his home on Sunday afternoon I could see the water pooled across the entire carpet, the bathroom full of a muddy mess and his daughter and friends working quickly to move everything outside. Before I arrived I readied myself for the worst, reminding myself to stay sensitive to the family and those involved in the disaster. I tend to put myself in the position of those I am helping, in this case it was almost too much for me to do that. I had to take myself out of their shoes and ask God for direction. My first task was to start tearing out the carpet, it cannot be saved.”

“As more volunteers continued to arrive to help I began helping the homeowner’s daughter sort through personal belongings. When I walked into the office she instructed, ‘everything on that shelf can go,’ I took out bags of ruined personal belongings and placed them on the streets where whole lives of stuff waited to be taken to the dump. I can’t imagine what was going through their minds. One thing she continued to say was, ‘I knew God would show up, and here He is.’

Read more about how you and your church can get more involved in this response through prayer, giving and serving.