Among 18 deaths related to Hurricane Laura, Pastor James Vernon cart Jr. who pastored First Baptist Church of Iota has died on Aug 27th.
According to his wife, the pastor had gone to bed around 2:00 A.M while she was with her grandkids and suddenly a tree fell on his roof. Dozens of churches are in critical condition as many were demolished from the deadly hurricane Laura.
A church member states, "As far as we know right now, the front doors are blown off and it's flooded inside. Our Sunday School wing collapsed. There are power lines down. It's still flooded. It's dangerous as far as snakes and stuff."
Many state there's lots of uncertainty. Members of the church are living without homes and are unable to afford a hotel.
"No shelters were set up because of the COVID thing so we've got a lot of families that are really, really in dire circumstances. Its a challenge now to figure out how to help them."
Baker anticipates a long recovery but said the area is not ready to receive volunteer disaster relief crews from other states because of the lack of shelter, food, and water.
"Southern Baptists across the country have already been pouring out a lot of love and we're incredibly grateful for that. It's one of the best things we do as a denomination. We send missionaries around the world and we send people to help when there's a disaster. ... Proud to be Southern Baptists today."
The city remained without power in Louisiana Sunday, and it could take a month or more for all power to be restored due to catastrophic damage to the power grid. According to the report, at least eight deaths were reported as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning from generators inside homes.
