Disaster Date:08/26/2020
Jennings, LA
Hurricanes
What Happened
Hurricane Laura struck Louisiana on August 26, 2020 as a Category 4 hurricane. This hurricane was the tenth-strongest U.S. hurricane landfall by wind speed on record, with peak winds of 150 mph. On October 9, 2020 Hurricane Delta struck Louisiana in the same areas that were significantly affected by Hurricane Laura. Many homeowners had not returned home yet from evacuating from Hurricane Laura, and many homes still had tarps on their roofs from Laura. This area was also impacted by the Freeze of 2021 where many exposed pipes were frozen and then in May of 2021 received over 15 inches of rain.
Volunteer in Jennings, LAWhat MDS Is Doing
MDS has been invited by local partners including Southwest Louisiana Responds, the Fuller Center for Disaster Rebuilders, and the Bayou Community Foundation to provide volunteer labor in building 4 new homes, plus some additional repair jobs.
Location
Jennings is located in Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana. It is about halfway between Lafayette and Lake Charles. The town has a population of approximately 10,000 people. Louisiana’s first oil well was brought into the Jennings Field in 1901. Jefferson Davis Parish has over 350,000 acres of farmland, with the most significant crops being soybeans and rice.
Weekly Reports
This is our last week at Jennings, for the winter season and possibly ever. It remains to be seen whether an MDS presence will return in the fall. So we are making the most of it, with “lasts” to last in our memories forever. The church people...
This week two crews both cancelled out, so we were left with 8 long term volunteers and one weekly. But small groups bring their own sense of fun and fellowship, which we definitely experienced this week. It was also nice to have Phil and Loretta...
Our big crew this week was from Ohio. Then there was Bryant Swiers’ cousin Tobias from Minnesota, and Steve Barth’s sister with her husband and two daughters from Pennsylvania. We had an awesome week enjoying each other, playing games, teasing,...