Brick Home Was No Match for Storm

Lake Charles, LA

“Rita was bad, but I figured, we can stay because I have a brick home,” Cassie Meaux said, recounting her decision to stay as hurricane Laura was approaching. “But this was way worse than Rita.” 

Cassie and her family then hunkered down during hurricane Laura in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

“It sounded like freight trains,” said Cassie. “I was just waiting for the roof to come off and the storm to just take us. I thought we were going to die, I really did. I'll never do it again. I'll never stay.”

The damage was so bad, that after the storm, practically everyone in her neighborhood left.

Cassie said, “I was the only one in the whole subdivision that stayed. And it’s like I was helpless.”

The damage to her roof was covered by insurance, but the devastation to her yard was not.

“I tried getting a lot of stuff up and some of my daughter's friends came to help, but there’s only so much that I can do,” Cassie explained. “I didn’t know where to turn, I didn’t know what to do.”

Then a crew from Operation Blessing arrived with cleaning supplies, chainsaws and more.

Cassie said, “It was so hard to find supplies and then here you all come. I felt relief, I felt found.”

Operation Blessing volunteers cut trees, cleared debris and provided hope in Cassie’s time of need.

“If you all wouldn’t have come, I don’t know what I would have done,” said Cassie. “I can not thank you enough. And all I can say is God is good.”