Lending a helping hand

Hebrews chapter 6 verse 10 says, God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. Just as the Lord does not forget the help people provide to one another, the people of Ville Platte will not forget the help the Louisiana Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Chainsaw crew is providing by assisting in cleaning up residents’ homes and yards during their time of need.
These efforts were prompted following severe weather including three confirmed tornadoes rolling through Evangeline Parish on Sunday, May 19, 2019, which caused mass destruction resulting in downed power lines and billboards, uprooted trees and destroyed homes.
The Louisiana Southern Baptist group has spent multiple days going around Ville Platte to assist residents in cutting branches off of houses and cleaning up large limbs from yards.
For Ville Platte resident Grace Vidrine Sibley, this effort is one she feels grateful to see taking place in her home city.
While Sibley is grateful for the clean up, she said what makes their assistance even more meaningful part of this work is the fact that disaster relief crew “is ministering as they do the work. That’s the most impressive thing. You get to see God in action.”
This is the second time Sibley says Louisiana Southern Baptist have come through for her in her life. She said, “Reverend Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Baker of Elton Louisiana took me under their wings. The lead vacation bible schools at many of the churches in this area. Because I wanted to major in education at Centenary College in Shreveport to become a missionary, they got in touch with the Southern Baptist Louisiana Southern Baptist convention in 1967 and obtained a $300 scholarship for me. That was a lot of money back then. I wanted to be a missionary and that money was golden for me to be able to go to college. And, now fast forward to 2019 and Southern Baptists are here helping me again. I am just so grateful for this.”
Also at the locations where the group, which was started by Louisiana Southern Baptist Minister Gibbie McMillian, is First Baptist Church of Ville Platte Pastor Kevin West. His church will be housing the crew for the next several days as they continue to share the God’s word while providing hope to those who may have lost it after the storms last Sunday.
The extensive damage, which left approximately 6,600 residents in Evangeline Parish and 22,000 residents statewide without power for hours and some for days, also prompted Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards to make a special trip to Evangeline where the worst of the damage occurred.
During a press conference at the Evangeline Parish 9-1-1 office, Edwards shared that while Evangeline Parish and Ville Platte was hit the hardest by the early morning May 19, 2019 storms, other areas in the region were also struck by destructive storms and tornadoes last Sunday.
Edwards said that in addition to Evangeline Parish, Allen, Beauregard, and St. Helena Parishes were also struck with tornadoes. Also experiencing bad weather, but not tornadoes, was St. Landry and Acadia Parish.
As for the tornadoes that touched down in Evangeline Parish, the Evangeline Parish 9-1-1 and Office of Emergency Preparedness released the following preliminary information from the National Weather Service, which is subject to change pending final review:
Ville Platte Tornado: Rating, EF - 1; estimated peak wind, 90 miles-per-hour; path length/statute, 2.68 miles; path width/maximum, 600 years; fatalities, zero; injuries, zero; start date, May 19, 2019; start time, 5:50 a.m. CDT; start location, 0 Ville Platte; start latitude and longitude, 30.6837/-92.2911; end time, 5:59 a.m. CDT; end date, May 19, 2019; end time, 5:59 a.m. CDT; 1 northeast Ville Platte; end latitude and longitude, 30.7072/-92.2600.
Survey summary: A tornado touched down on the southern end of Ville Platte south of West Hickory St. The tornado then crossed Main St. and W. LaSalle St. snapping numerous trees and power poles. The tornado then paralleled Tate Cove Rd. continuing to snap trees before dissipating near the intersection of Tate Cove and Theophile Rd.
Mamou Tornado: Rating, EF-0; Estimated Peak Wind, 85 miles per hour; path length/statute, .31 miles; path width/maximum, 50 yards; fatalities, zero; injuries, zero; start date May 19, 2019; start time, 5:42 a.m. CDT; start location, south south east (half way between south and southeast) Mamou; start longitude and latitude, 30.6044/-92.4090; 2 end time, 5:43 a.m. CDT; end location, 2 SSE Mamou; end latitude and longitude, 30.6044/-92.4039.
Survey summary: A tornado briefly touched down along Gradney Lane. The storm pulled a manufactured home off of its blocks and into the intersection of Gradney Lane and L’anse Meg Rd. The tornado crossed L’anse Meg Rd. before dissipating in a nearby field.
A local media outlet also reported that the National Weather Service out of Lake Charles confirmed a third tornado from Sunday’s storms. The tornado was classified as an EF-1 tornado with estimated winds of 110 miles per hour and was on the ground for over nine miles. The media outlet reported the tornado initially touched down five miles southeast of Mamou, traveled close to Point Blue and was one of the strongest to occur on Sunday.
Although no fatalities occurred, Edwards shared that Mercy Regional Medical Center in Ville Platte “reported there has been three non-serious injuries that were weather related.” The governor continued, “We are very fortunate that their hasn’t been a loss of life or serious injury yet. Quite often in these types of natural disasters we will have serious accidents or even a fatality when individuals start to go about and clean up through operating a chainsaw or a tree falls the rest of the way or they touched a power line that they thought was not live and it turns out to be live.”
The amount of damage in Ville Platte alone, Edwards reported caused damage to at least 50 homes as well as Hebert’s Boudin and Cracklins on Tate Cove Road.
During his address to local media, Edwards said that storm damage throughout the region, which included, Evangeline, Allen, Beauregard, St. Helena, Acadia and St. Landry Parishes, will begin to be assessed near the end of this week to determine if the threshold has been met that might allow for federal assistance. Edwards said, “At this time, we don’t anticipate that will be the case. I don’t believe that we will be getting assistance as it relates to either public or private assistance.”
Anyone who has received damage to their homes or business from the storm is asked to contact the Evangeline Parish 9-1-1/OEP Office at (337) 363-3267 so that they may record the damages.