LOUISIANA FLOOD UPDATE: Report from Fuller Center leader in Tangipahoa Parish

Earlier this year in March, Ginger Ford Northshore Fuller Center for Housing Executive Director Tamara Danel reported that flooding in southern Louisiana — including in Tangipahoa Parish where her covenant partner is based — was the worst the lifelong Louisianan had seen in her lifetime.

Until this month, that is. Flooding has damaged more than 40,000 homes and taken the lives of at least 13 people. Short-term disaster relief has arrived in bulk, but Danel knows that recovery from a disaster of this magnitude takes months and even years for some. In fact, earlier this month, she worked to help a family in Pearl River, Louisiana, get a decent home for the first time since their house was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“I think there’s a lot of shock and a lot of post-traumatic stress disorder right now,” Danel said Thursday of residents dealing with two floods of historic proportion in the span of just a few months. “Everybody’s still in shock and disbelief and overwhelmed.”

Danel said Ginger Ford Northshore is working closely with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, which is mucking out the soggy homes and clearing the way for The Fuller Center and others to follow with repairs. She added that the Ginger Ford Northshore’s main targets for assistance will be those without flood insurance — especially the elderly and disabled.

You can hear the entire 8-minute interview with Danel below:

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