(The little town of Olla will never be the same.)

Day One

The people of Olla, Louisiana need your prayers. The town is simply devastated. I have never seen anything like it: People milling about through their possessions which have been cast about for hundreds of yards and mingled with their neighbors', tossed like some sort of surreal salad...rooftops, furniture, and clothing scattered everywhere. The sound of chain saws replacing the sound of the wails that were heard by the volunteers during the night in the immediate aftermath of the sudden strike that came without warning. The damage will leave a scar in this community forever. Some of the most peculiar sights to see included a bathtub resting in the arms of a huge oak tree and a trailer turned upside down sitting on its blocks. A huge swath of homes and trees were leveled by the tornado. Tragically, there was loss of life as well as many injuries. Urania's small hospital was overwhelmed. The city is doing the best that it can, with help from the Parish of LaSalle, volunteers and others. Please pray for the people of Olla.

Day Two

These people defy nature's fury the old fashioned way: by surviving! I stand in awe of their resiliency. Perhaps a hundred homes lay wasted in the path of the merciless tornado of November 23, yet there is no desperation, no giving up, no fists raised to the heavens. The people of Olla, Louisiana, like a bed of ants, quickly zip to and fro in an attempt to repair the damage to their lives. Those who, in the eerie midnight hours when the rain soaked them through shredded ceilings, wondered if they would ever smile again are already laughing with friends and hugging neighbors. Sure, moments come when a deep breath is needed to digest the mountain set before them, but to a person they will tell you this one thing: “I have so much to be thankful for.” Every one of them gives thanks to their maker for their new appreciation for the very breath He has given them. People are pouring over the horizon like hordes of gift-bearing locusts to help the victims of this crime of nature. Line workers, social workers, local and not-so-local volunteers are all there trying to restore electricity, and a sense of normalcy, to these stricken bastions of hope by cooking food, cutting logs, hauling trash, and salvaging the scattered treasures of their lives. Governmental agencies and the Red Cross are doing their job. National Guardsmen have been called in to help. Our District Office has offered to help our church reach out to the community. This town has seen so much over the last few years. These people were abandoned by big business as the two large plants which sustained the community suddenly closed down, leaving them without work. The entire town suffered for weeks in a search for a lost, elderly loved-one with Alzheimer’s who had disappeared one day only to be discovered deceased in an abandoned field. We wept with those from the town who got the news that their family members would not be coming home from the war in Iraq. Now this. Somehow, watching the determination in their eyes, their furrowed brows and jutting chins that have dealt with so much for one little town, I look out over the work ahead of them and am pulling for the people of Olla, Louisiana. Indeed, these country folk can survive!

 

ONE YEAR LATER

 

Recovery can be measured in so many ways. Perhaps the best measure is how this little town responded to the tragedy that occurred along our Gulf Coast when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Deep South. Located on Hwy. 165 in Central Louisiana, the small town of Olla became a stopping point for many of the evacuees who fled the wrath of the hurricanes. Even as families darted north when Rita hovered off our shores, refugees from Katrina were stuffed into homes, trailers, and churches in our community. They had no homes to return to. Already stretched to the limit to reach out to the Katrina victims, the Rita evacuees came pouring into town needed shelter, food, and protection from the storm. Amazingly, hundreds of people were cared for and helped in the days, weeks and months following the attack of the evil twin sisters Katrina and Rita. Perhaps it was the suffering the citizens of Olla endured only a year ago in the tragic tornado that drove them to swallow up so many victims of the Gulf Coast in their hour of need. There are still abandoned houses standing which will never be rebuilt. The school is still in shambles with no governmental help available to rebuild: The students meet in an old fabric plant they call “Holloway High.” The spirit of these people soars, whether suffering the torments of nature’s fury or delivering help to others who must endure a similar fate. Olla is back!