The deafening winds came, quickly followed by torrential rains. The water quickly rose in the streets and soon it was ebbing in under the front door of the small concrete home in the city of Gonaives.

Jean Doneur and his wife grabbed their five children from their beds and rushed them to the roof before it was too late. They braced themselves for the worst once again.

Hurricane Ike roared through late that night with unrelenting rain, inundating the coastal city in north central Haiti. This was the fourth major storm in only a few weeks, and the already saturated mountains to the northeast channeled all the water to the unprotected city. The deluge toppled cars, uprooted trees, and flooded houses—some almost to the roof tops.

Jean and his family huddled on their roof, exposed to the mercy of the rain and lightning without blankets or protection, shivering with each passing minute. Neighbors soon began making the dangerous trip to Jean’s roof because it was the only two-story house that could keep them from the rising waters. His children cried as they saw some of their neighbors swept away by the current as they tried to make the journey, desperately grasping for an anchor in branches floating by them.

In the morning the water was still chest high, but Jean, his family, and many of his neighbors were safe. Later he waded through the water carrying each of his children on his shoulders one by one to seek refuge on higher ground.

Hurricane Ike clipped the northern peninsula of the impoverished Caribbean nation in early September, but storm survivors like Jean are still struggling in the aftermath of the storm. Streets remain flooded and inaccessible by vehicles, and many houses have mud up to three feet thick and are uninhabitable.

Samaritan's Purse sent a disaster assistance team to provide emergency food and shelter material to at-risk families in Haiti who were impacted by the storms, as well as helping victims of Hurricane Ike in Turks and Caicos.

Working with local church partners, we have delivered 1,000 family food packages that contain items such as sugar, beans, cornmeal, rice, spaghetti, oil, and fish. Each kit weighs 42 pounds and can feed a family of five for two weeks.

We also implemented a food and shelter program in Gonaives. We are distributing 116 rolls of durable plastic that can be used for temporary shelters, as well as installing a high-capacity water filtration system that will provide as much as 10,000 gallons of clean water daily for the community.

Our workers have trained pastors in two towns adjacent to Gonaives how to cut plastic sheeting into sections large enough for families to cover their homes. The plastic was delivered to these partners on Thursday, along with 270 food packages.

Please pray for Jean, his family, and his neighbors as they begin to return to their neighborhood, that they would come to know Christ who is an anchor in the storms of the world that would carry us away.

“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever” (Hebrews 6:19-20, NKJV).

Samaritan's Purse also is helping storm victims in Turks and Caicos, an island chain north of Haiti.

Hurricane Ike ripped through the Turks and Caicos Islands on Sept. 7 as a Category 4 storm with 135-mph winds, damaging as many as 95 per cent of the housing on Grand Turk, the governing seat of the 25,000-resident British territory.

A Samaritan's Purse disaster assistance team is in the country, working with local church partners to deliver food and materials for emergency shelters.

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Samaritan's Purse , Haiti , Turks and Caicos Islands , Emergency Relief , Anchor in the Storm