Cleaning up the mess

Disaster | Gulf Coast storm survivors have a different idea of devastation since Hurricane Katrina | Lynn Vincent

Associated Press/Photo by Eric Gay

Even before Hurricane Gustav rolled over parts of Cajun country, Christian aid groups were rolling to the rescue. A convoy of two disaster relief trucks, plus other support vehicles, departed Samaritan's Purse headquarters in North Carolina for Louisiana on Sept. 1. Samaritan's Purse president Franklin Graham prayed with the group before they left, saying, "Be the hands and feet of Jesus."

The Salvation Army, North American Mission Board, and Operation Blessing International were among the faith-based groups that pre-staged aid supplies and volunteers in counties Gustav threatened.

Nearly 2 million people fled the Louisiana coast in advance of Gustav, including about 95 percent of New Orleans' residents. Though storm damage paled in comparison to Katrina, the apocalyptic storm that ravaged the state in 2005, Gov. Bobby Jindal still declared Gustav "a very, very serious storm that's caused major damage in our state."