CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 28, 2021 –The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) has deployed crisis-trained chaplains to provide emotional and spiritual care alongside Samaritan’s Purse as the organizations respond to flooding in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. With a team of chaplains already serving in Lake Charles, additional chaplains will be in Iberville Parish beginning Tuesday.
A storm system dumped as much as 25 inches of rain in the area and a flood diversion dam failed, leading to massive flooding in the parish, specifically the areas of Bayou Sorrel and Bayou Pigeon. With the flood waters slow to recede, many homes in the area are still inaccessible.
“As people return to find their homes and belongings destroyed, we know there are a lot of people hurting and our crisis-trained chaplains want to listen and provide emotional and spiritual care to those who were impacted by these floods, or the other storms of life,” said Josh Holland, assistant director of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team.
In addition to the chaplains in Louisiana, another team of BG-RRT chaplains is serving in San Jose, California, after a mass shooting at a light rail facility on May 26.
For more information on the ministry, including videos, photos, news articles and an interactive map of former and current deployments, visit the BG-RRT press kit or BillyGraham.org/RRT. Updates can also be found at Facebook.com/RRTChaplains.
About the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team:
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team was developed by Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It has since grown into an international network of chaplains in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia who are specifically trained to deal with crisis situations. They have deployed to more than 550 disaster sites across the globe, including shootings, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes.
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