And back here in
the United States, Louisiana is dealing with widespread power
outages and massive flooding
today. This as Francine has weakened to a tropical depression. The storm originally struck the state as a category
two hurricane, bringing winds of up 100mph and wreaking havoc in its wake, including leaving more than 300,000 people in the dark. The governor says the
National Guard is assisting
residents and conducting search
and rescue operations. And
joining us now is Deacon Martin Gutierrez, vice president of
mission and community engagement
at Catholic Charities of New
Orleans. Deacon Martin, good to
be with you. And our prayers are
with all of you in New Orleans
and the others that are in thpath of this storm. Can you tell
us what you have seen and
experienced so far from Francine ?
>> As a matter of fact, we are grateful. Things could have been
a lot worse. It is much, much,
much better than expected. We
just finished a coordination
call with the other dioceses in
the state of Louisiana. And yes,
there has been some damage, but
not as much as we expected. This
was a fast moving hurricane
which dumped a lot of rain on the southern east part of the
state, but moved on very
quickly. So we are in the
process of assessing the damage
and the needs of and how are we
going to respond in the next few days? Yeah so good to hear it
wasn't as bad as anticipated. >> What do you anticipate will
be the needs of the residents and those needing your help?
>> As you mentioned, the biggest
need right now is electricity. Power is out. Over 200,000 people in the area are out of
power. So that's going to be the biggest need at this moment.
There is some flooding that
we're going to have to deal with
so that the regular things that normally are needed tarps, cleaning supplies , monetary
donations are always good. You
know, that helps us to get the resources quickly in the hands
that are needed.
>> Yeah. Deacon, I know you're
no stranger to natural disasters
down there in Louisiana, and assisting those. What kind of
needs do you assist with? If you can just give us a sense of
that. How do you help people in
Louisiana in times like this?>> So we have seven dioceses
here in Louisiana, and each one
of them has its own strengths
and weaknesses. Some are very
good at responding right away
and being part of the first
responders team of groups that
go out there and respond right away in our case in New Orleans, we are here for the long term.
We just had Hurricane Ida about
three years ago, and we're still
providing case management
services to them. So we do everything in Louisiana from search and rescue, getting involved in those areas. The dioceses and other parts of the
state do that , and others do the long term case management that
we are good at here in New Orleans.>> Yeah, it's very, very
important work that you all do. Talk to us also about the
importance of faith during times
like this , especially where you are, where there's a lot of
natural disasters.
>> Yeah, unfortunately, you know ,
we are we have gotten very good
at responding to disasters,
whether it's hurricanes,
tornadoes, even oil spills, as
you may remember. So you know,
houses, they come and go literally. But our faith is
strong and we stand on our
faith. And God has been good and
he proven to be good again, this
past 24 hours. >> Yeah, that is wonderful. For
those that are watching right
now and wondering how they can
help, how can they help?
>> The best way to do this is
through Catholic Charities
usa.org. The National Office of
Catholic Charities works
together with all the different
dioceses in the in the country
that have a Catholic Charities
agency, and we work together
with them. Like I said, just an
hour ago, I was on the phone
with the other seven dioceses
here in Louisiana and with
representatives from CC, USA.
All right , Martin, thank you so much for taking the time to
speak with us about all of this.
>> We appreciate it. God bless
you. >> Thank you. God bless you too.
>>