JENNINGS — Charlie Guidry and his wife, Suzanne, were still moving out of their home and tallying the flood damage Wednesday as a team of volunteers from Texas moved in to help clean and gut their home.
“These people are just amazing,” Charlie Guidry said as he watched the volunteers haul debris to the front of his home, on La. 26, just south of Jennings. “They are lifesavers.”
The Guidrys are picking up the pieces after nearly 3 inches of water from a nearby drainage ditch flooded their home on Aug. 13.
“We’ve lived here 10 years and this is the first time it has flooded,” Guidry said. “We don’t have it as bad as most people, but it is still amazing to see what just a little bit of water can do.”
The couple is moving out of the house, but hopes to be back in it by January.
Help for flood victims is coming in from across the country, including several religious groups that have traveled from out of state.
The men working on the Guidrys’ home Wednesday are associated with the Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief team, which arrived this week. The group is working from a command center at First Baptist Church in Jennings.
“One of our main goals is not only to clean out the houses, but we also try to minister to their emotional and spiritual needs,” said Marcell Hunt of Katy, Texas. “They get to feeling better when they see us working because they can start to see a road to recovery among the devastation.”
As of Wednesday the Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief team had received nearly 50 requests for help cleaning and gutting homes in the Jennings, Lake Arthur, Estherwood and Gueydan areas.
The requests are expected to grow as floodwaters continue to recede in areas where roads are still too flooded to assess the damage, Hunt said.
“Typically we get to a house and work as if nothing has been done,” Hunt said. “We’ll move the homeowners’ personal belongings to a designated spot if it is salvageable. A lot of times things can’t be saved and we have to trash them.”
The group also works to remove mud, water and debris from the home, pull out wet carpet and other flooring, remove baseboards and tear out sheetrock. Members also power wash the homes and treat them for mold.
“A lot of times there is nothing left but studs when we are done,” Hunt said. “Anything that is wet has to come out so there won’t be any mold growth.”
The local flooding is the sixth disaster relief response this year for Hunt’s team, which is from Kingsland Baptist Church in Katy, Texas. It’s the 26th disaster for the Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief team as a whole, he said.
“It’s been an exhaustive year,” Hunt said. “We have been deployed somewhere every week since mid-December. Before this flood we had 9,000 volunteer days spent on disasters.”
Hunt, who retired from the oil and gas industry, said he gets a great deal of satisfaction being able to help others.
“I have been blessed,” he said. “God gave me good health and helped me financially, so it is just a blessing to me to be able to help other people restore their lives.”
Chris Angelle of Jennings is not part of the group, but saw the members staging at the church across the street from his home and volunteered to help.
“I’ve seen all the devastation and wanted to help somewhere and give back to my community,” Angelle said.
The Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief team can be reached at 214-908-6239 daily 9 a.m.-6 p.m., or at the First Baptist Church, 1001 Cary Ave.
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