Disaster relief experts and volunteers from Samarian's Purse are in the Gulf Coast area providing assistance to victims of Hurricane Isaac. 

While the physical needs of the residents are immediate, so, too, are the spiritual and emotional needs of those who have lost personal belongings, homes and vehicles, said the organization's media relations coordinator, Karina Petersen.

Petersen spoke to the Watauga Democrat on Wednesday from LaPlace, La., one of two staging areas near New Orleans where Samaritan's Purse is concentrating its efforts.

Before Isaac hit, Petersen said, the organization had teams in place near the coastal region, preparing to work their way closer to the affected areas the storm moved inland.

Additional staff and a convoy of heavy equipment and vehicles departed from Samaritan's Purse U.S. Disaster Relief headquarters in North Wilkesboro on Sept. 1, including two tractor-trailer units loaded with tarps, chainsaws, generators and other emergency supplies.

With each of the disaster relief units functioning as a self-supporting operations center, Petersen said, staff and volunteers were able to move into action quickly.

Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the organization, said in a news release, "Samaritan's Purse helped thousands of homeowners seven years ago after Hurricane Katrina pounded some of the same areas now facing more devastation. We want these homeowners to know that they are loved and not forgotten, and we will do what we can to help."

Program manager Brent Graybeal, assigned to coordinate and manage relief efforts in the New Orleans area, said on Wednesday, from LaPlace, La., that two work sites have been set up at churches -- one in the parish of St. John the Baptist and the second in Lacombe, La., northeast of Lake Pontchartrain.

Graybeal is leading the team in LaPlace, less than an hour from the gulf shore and five minutes from New Orleans.

"After getting set-up on Sunday, we began talking with the residents to see how we could help with their most immediate needs," Graybeal said.

According to Petersen, the first woman on the receiving end of the organization's assistance called Samaritan's Purse her "lifeline" and said it gave her "new hope;" her husband died eight months ago.

On Wednesday, Graybeal's team consisted of "about 25 staff and   trained volunteers," with more expected.

During Graybeal's initial meeting on Sunday with parish president, Natalie Robottom, it was estimated that between 400 and 500 homes had been damaged in the Lake Pontchartrain area.

"This area wasn't even a direct result of the storm," Graybeal said, "and was so far inland that most of the residents felt that they were safe from coastal flooding."

During the week, the number of flood- and wind-damaged homes continued to rise "exponentially," he said, to about 6,900 by Wednesday.

"These are home that were not affected by Katrtina," he said. "Many homeowners do not have flood insurance and were caught by surprise."

Graybeal said their focus was primarily on those who were not insured and who had the greatest needs. "We are still trying to get handle on who they are," he said.

Many of the devastated residents are elderly, with special needs, he said.

The severity of damage varies, Graybeal said. "Flood waters were as high as six feet, maybe even 8 feet in places," he said, with most two feet or less. "The water rose quickly in many cases, and fortunately, receded in just a few days, so there was not a lot of mud and silt to deal with," he said.

The Samaritan's Purse teams have formed positive working relationships with the parish residents and local pastors. "As word gets out that we're here," Graybeal said, "more people are coming to us for help."

In addition to helping homeowners remove mud, damaged flooring, wet sheetrock, insulation and furniture -- while disinfecting homes to prevent mold problems -- the teams are also removing debris and trees from yards and covering roofs and exposed areas with tarpaulins.

"We are taking all those things to the curb," he said. "FEMA has declared these disaster areas and are providing removal services."

The teams are also trying to share the message of Christ with those they've come to help.

"There is a feeling of desperation among a lot of the people we've been meeting with and praying with," Graybeal said. "Many are homeowners who had moved further inland to get away from the levee system, to where flooding was not a threat."

Some, he said, have been hit twice, while some have never experienced flooding before.

"It's not the 20-foot surges that some experienced during Katrina, but water got in their homes and they have lost possessions."

Chaplains from the Billy Graham Rapid Response teams are also on location and offering encouragement and prayer support to the homeowners.

"Within two or three weeks leading up to Isaac," Graybeal said, "this community was already suffering due to shooting incidences -- one in which two deputies were killed and two others were wounded."

Despite those situations, he said that there was unity, too. "The churches are very strong and are reaching out into the community. We are blessed to come alongside them and be encouragers. We are committed to being here as long as we are needed to help these residents pick up the pieces and get back on their feet." 

Graybeal expressed his appreciation, on behalf of all involved, for the support of the people "back home" -- "And what you all are doing for us."

Prayer is the greatest need, he said. "People can simply pray for these who have lost so much." Volunteering, or by giving financially, are other ways we can help, also.
  

Samaritan's Purse also sent a DC-3 plane loaded with supplies to Haiti last week to assist those affected when Isaac, as a tropical storm, passed though.

"We have staff that's been working in Haiti since the earthquake hit more than two years ago," Petersen said. "So, when Isaac made landfall in Haiti, we were able to use staff members already based there to help in the response efforts."

Currently, staff members are working to provide clean drinking water in areas where the water source is unsafe due to flooded wells, she said. "So far, the organization has decontaminated more than a dozen storm-flooded wells, and providing communities with water purification tablets."

Earlier this year, Samaritan's Purse has responded to help victims of tornadoes in North Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky; wildfires in Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma, and floods in Minnesota, Florida and Tennessee.

Last year, Samaritan's Purse helped more than 3,200 households affected by storms in 10 states through the efforts of more than 20,000 volunteers.

To volunteer with Samaritan's Purse, visit http://www.spvolunteernetwork.org. Donations to help storm victims can be made at http://www.samaritanspurse.org.