| ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- With Tropical Storm Isaac continuing to churn toward landfall as a potential hurricane on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning -- somewhere along the Louisiana and Mississippi Coasts -- Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders already are planning where major storm responses will be deployed. Isaac -- potentially a Category 2 hurricane -- likely will strike seven years from the very day, Aug. 29, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina battered Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, forever altering life in New Orleans and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Gulf Coast hasn't experienced a hurricane since the 2008 trio of Dolly, Gustav and Ike. "We're still watching the tracks coming out of the weather centers and other computer models," said Mickey Caison, disaster relief team leader for the North American Mission Board in Alpharetta, Ga. "We're looking at a Louisiana strike now, although we still think Mississippi will be affected," Caison said. "The farther west it goes, depending on how it turns when it hits land, we could be facing a major response in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in the next few days." Preliminary plans call for mobilizing two of NAMB's three 18-wheel tractor trailers -- one to Hattiesburg, Miss., and the other to Covington, La., or even farther west depending on Isaac's eventual landfall. NAMB DR staffers were busy loading the trailers today with plastic roof sheeting for use in repairing homes of hurricane victims. If needed, NAMB is prepared to deploy a command post trailer from Alpharetta to the Gulf Coast, and is sending a team to retrieve its second command center in Oklahoma, where it has been used for the past few weeks in responding to the recent wildfires in the Sooner State. State conventions in Louisiana and other affected states will be deploying their own volunteers and assets, including mud-out trailers, shower and laundry units and feeding kitchens. Working with the Red Cross and Salvation Army, some SBDR feeding units can prepare and deliver thousands of hot meals a day during a disaster. When asked to compare the potential of Isaac with Katrina, which reached Category 3 status and claimed more than 1,800 lives and $80 billion in damage, Caison said at this point, there's no comparison. "It's not the same strength of storm. Isaac is a much weaker storm and won't have the same level of storm surge," he said. "But it's possible that Isaac will take more of the 2008 Gustav/Ike track instead of the Katrina track," said Caison, meaning that Texas and southwest Louisiana will suffer the brunt of the hurricane and resulting flooding. Caison believes Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is much better equipped for Isaac than for Katrina. Continued... |