Isaac Church Impact, Response: Light Damage in U.S., Charities Aid Haiti Tent City Victims

(Photo Credit: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)A U.S. Coast Guard Station is surrounded by floodwaters in Natchez, Miss., after rain from Hurricane Issac.

The impact of Hurricane Isaac in Louisiana and Mississippi has been relatively light, with some damage reported by Episcopal parishes, as church-related charities in Haiti seek to assess the immediate and long term needs of storm victims in Haiti still suffering from 2010's earthquake.

Christian relief groups are coming to the aid of victims of Hurricane Isaac in the U.S. and Haiti as the now weakened tropical depression moves on.

Episcopal Parishes in Louisiana assessed damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac, with one church reporting roof damage from a downed tree and a school finding some classrooms filled with inches of water, while another reported being "largely spared" despite some power outages.

St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Bogalusa, just north of New Orleans, sustained damage to its roof after a tree fell, reported the Episcopal News Service.

In Zachary, just north of Baton Rouge, Episcopal Day School at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church was several inches deep in water in several classrooms, the Very Rev. Canon Stephen Chad Jones said in the report.

In Baton Rouge South, the Very Rev. Ken Ritter, CEO of St. James Place Retirement Community said that while some parishes may not have power "we seem to have been largely spared."

The parish also said it would distribute potable water in up to five additional areas.

Fifty-two people from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans had taken refuge at Camp Wesley Pines in Hazlehurst, MS and are using donations from the Memphis Conference, the camp's programming director Joe Davis told the United Methodist News Service.

The relief supplies were delivered by Bill Carr, Memphis Conference Disaster Relief Coordinator. He drove a truckload of supplies to two locations in southern Mississippi Wednesday to help with inland flooding and evacuee assistance, according to the United Methodist Memphis Annual Conference.

Car delivered bottled water, hand sanitizers and MREs (meals ready to eat. He also loaned generators. He said the deliveries were made in response to specific requests coordinated by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).

The Memphis Annual Conference includes donation information for the storm on its website (http://www.memphis-umc.net/news/detail/1663)

Haiti Still Suffering from Isaac, 2010 Quake

In Haiti, where Isaac caused extensive flooding in a number of areas, Episcopal Relief and Development (http://www.er-d.org/) said Wednesday the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti had provided pre-positioned supplies of clean drinking water to 500 families in the parish and outstation communities of Matthieu and Darbonne in Léogâne, EPD said.

At least 24 people have died after Isaac, which was a tropical storm at the time, hit the island on August 24. It has launched an appeal for victims of the storm.

On August 31, the Primate's World Relief and Development fund said it pledged $25,000 for relief efforts in Haiti. The PWRDF (http://pwrdf.org/) is the relief and development arm of the Anglican Church of Canada.

On Wednesday, International Orthodox Christian Charities (http://www.iocc.org) reported it is in contact with Orthodox Church partners in Haiti and is working with them to assess the immediate and long-term needs of survivors.

The storm destroyed tents that still house hundreds of thousands of survivors of the 2010 Haitian earthquake. More than 390,000 homeless live in camps and tent cities throughout Port-au-Prince. IOCC says the families forced to remain in the camps have nowhere else to go and represent the unemployed or too elderly and infirm to repair the quake damaged homes they once lived in.

"The passage of this storm leaves Haiti again with many more victims who need the solidarity of all," said Father Grégoire Legoute, an Orthodox priest in Haiti.

Haiti Tent Encampment

A tent encampment located on a former nine-hole golf course in Port-au-Prince, Haiti is seen in an undated file photo. The temporary shelters offered little protection against the torrential rains and wind brought on by Tropical Storm Isaac. Two and a half years after the devastating 2010 earthquake, nearly 400,000 Haitians still live in makeshift shelters like these. Photo Credit: Paul Jeffrey/IOCC

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