The Catholic Charities of Acadiana disaster response team is helping some Acadia Parish residents recover after flooding from a torrential rain storm in March.
The rain led to extensive flooding in Rayne, damaging about 150 homes, said Catholic Charities’ spokesperson Ben Broussard. The disaster response team has so far helped to repair around five homes in the small community.
But with more than 70 requests for assistance, the road to recovery is likely to be a long haul.
Katherine Arceneaux, 79, was cooking bacon while the team started replacing insulation in her home which received more than four inches of water on March 29.
The city saw about seven to eight inches of rainfall in just a few hours that Saturday afternoon.
Arceneaux, who didn’t have flood insurance, said the water destroyed the bottom half of her walls, her home’s carpet, flooring, and furniture — things she couldn’t afford to fix or replace.
“It was a nightmare,” Arceneaux said.
Catholic Charities showed up in town the next day and began assessing the damage to homes in need across the city. The team eventually made it to Arceneaux and started fixing up her home at no cost to her.
“They have been a blessing,” she said. “I didn’t even know they were coming until they came.”
The work has been fulfilling, said employee Jake Turner. His coworker, Ariel Lindsey, and he have been on the disaster response team for about eight months.
The two did assessment work in the Morgan City area after Hurricane Francine but Rayne has been their first time doing tear-down and construction work.
The charity created the disaster response team in response to the 2016 flood that devastated Lafayette Parish, Broussard said. The 500-year flood damaged about 600 homes in Youngsville and hundreds of others across the parish after 20 inches of rain fell.
An informal team existed before 2016, according to Broussard, but he said the organization realized to need for disaster recovery in the hurricane and extreme weather-prone area within the Diocese of Lafayette.
While the team was created with hurricanes in mind, most of their efforts have followed heavy spring showers that bring about flash flooding.
“(These storms) don’t meet the benchmark for access to federal assistance,” Broussard said. “It’s then either on the homeowner or the community to step in.”
The road to recovery will be long, Broussard said. The organization is aiming to assist about 70 other homes in Rayne, Lafayette and New Iberia. With limited resources, progress can often come slower than expected. It took until 2020 for the organization to finish recovery efforts stemming from 2016 flood.
But their work in Rayne will continue as long as there’s work to be done.
“This is long-term recovery. This is putting the pieces back together,” Broussard said.”
