Samaritan’s Purse volunteers are already hard at work in southwest Louisiana after Category 4 Hurricane Laura slammed into the state early Thursday morning with 150 mph winds. Many communities along its path are still silent and empty from evacuations. Our teams are busy on the ground in two hard-hit communities. Two of our Disaster Relief…
Mending Homes and Hearts in Storm-Weary Louisiana
The streets of Lake Charles, Louisiana, were filled with destruction and silence in the 24 hours after Hurricane Laura made landfall. Families who fled the storm were terrified to return home and those who stayed were in a state of shock, their homes ripped apart or ambushed by falling trees. “Following a disaster, you usually…
Samaritan’s Purse Responding to Wildfires in California and Oregon
Samaritan’s Purse is responding in California and Oregon as an ongoing rash of deadly fires has engulfed much of the West Coast, killing more than 30 people. Our staff and a Disaster Relief Unit—a tractor trailer filled with relief supplies and equipment—were deployed Sept. 12 from our West Coast Ministry Center in Fullerton, California, to…
Samaritan’s Purse Responding in Alabama After Hurricane Sally
UPDATE: Samaritan’s Purse is deploying to Baldwin County, Alabama, and our base of operations will be First Baptist Church of Foley. Volunteers will begin work on Monday, Sept. 21. SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER — Residents of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle suffered under torrential downpours on Wednesday as Sally plodded across those states leaving catastrophic…
Volunteers Offer ‘Glimmer of Hope’ After Wildfires
Learn more about volunteering by going to SPvolunteer.org. Smoke still hangs in the air of Santa Cruz County, California, one month after the CZU Lightning Complex fires first struck the area, eventually burning thousands of acres and displacing more than 900 families. The small mountain towns’ characteristic redwoods are painted even redder by streaks of…
Volunteers Bring Unexpected Blessings After Alabama Hurricane
Just one look into her eyes and a story quickly unfolded. A story woven together with fear, panic, and absolute confusion that left little hope for resolution. Deborah Nelson could see in her mother’s eyes that a storm still lingered, even in the days following Hurricane Sally’s brutal punch to Baldwin County, Alabama. Her mother…
Rebuilding in Nashville
SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER IN NASHVILLE A series of storms and tornadoes tore through Nashville, Tennessee, in March and left behind significant destruction. Hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed across at least three counties in Middle Tennessee. Samaritan’s Purse quickly responded, as our staff and volunteers were on the ground serving hurting homeowners in…
Picking Up the Pieces After Oregon Fires
“Evacuate now!” Around 3 p.m. on September 8, Stephen MacAuley was playing the piano in his Phoenix, Oregon, townhouse when he saw a police car drive by and heard an officer announce the emergency warning through a bullhorn. Stephen knew wildfires had been reported in the area, but he never thought they would reach his…
Hurricane Sally Recovery Continues in Alabama
Riding out Hurricane Sally through the foreboding darkness of night was terrifying for Marilyn and Steve Hobbs and their neighbors in Foley, Alabama. “You lay awake and you hear all the wind and the noise. You wait a little bit, and then you hear something else hit the house,” Marilyn said. “And you do this…
Prayers, Volunteers Needed After Delta and Laura Bash Louisiana
Hurricane Delta crashed ashore in southwestern Louisiana on Friday evening as a Category 2 storm with sustained winds close to 100 mph. It hit just a few miles from where a devastating Hurricane Laura made landfall just six weeks ago. Strong, lashing winds and heavy downpours—with rainfall totals of 17 inches in some places—battered already…