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Shane and Shelly Cole were a Good Samaritan couple who opened their home to strangers evacuating New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina at the end of August. But just a few weeks later, with Hurricane Rita steering toward the Texas coast, the Coles found themselves in need of a Good Samaritan. Low-lying Pasadena, Texas, was at grave risk of catastrophic flooding.

Both the Coles' vehicles were disabled. Their van needed a $700 fuel pump they couldn't afford. Fixing their other vehicle's transmission would take a week. The Sheppards, the family the Coles hosted following Katrina, were in New Mexico and heard about the Coles' plight. They tried to wire the Coles some money. But Pasadena's Western Unions all had closed ahead of the storm.

In desperation, the Coles called the town's emergency services for a promised evacuation pickup. After three days of waiting, the bus was a no-show. The Coles then walked nearly four miles to a last-ditch pickup point. On arrival, they discovered the last bus out of Pasadena had already left.

They were offered room in the city's shelter, but no food, no water, and no cots were available. Perhaps prompted by the chaos the Coles had glimpsed in the Astrodome shelter, the couple returned home to face the Category 3 storm alone.

"If the Lord above decides to bring me home," Shane Cole said, "at least I know I will die very happy and in the loving arms of my beautiful wife." In the event they perished, Shane Cole e-mailed a journalist for Christianity Today their last messages for loved ones. Then they braced themselves and awaited Rita's worst.

Double Whammy
Since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, southeastern Louisiana, and the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coasts on August 29, the death toll has risen daily and now stands at more than 1,000. Katrina made landfall as a Category 4 storm packing 145-mph winds.

When Hurricane Rita slammed the Texas-Louisiana state line on September 24 as a Category 3 storm, winds were close to 120 mph and the storm surge was 15 feet. Some 3 million fled Rita, fearing her wrath could surpass Katrina's. Ahead of Rita's landfall, on September 23, a bus filled with elderly evacuees caught fire on I-45 in Dallas, killing 23. At press time, two deaths had been attributed to the actual storm.

Already strained from the staggering needs of Katrina's victims, churches and parachurch groups ramped up again to help a new wave of evacuees, this time fleeing Rita to Austin, Dallas, Shreveport, and beyond.

Ironically, those in flight included many people who had evacuated to Houston because of Katrina. It also included people who helped Houston's Katrina evacuees. And similar to Hurricane Katrina, many of those who remained to face the storm were, like the Coles, too broke to flee.

But Rita's evacuees faced challenges different from Katrina's—notably 100-mile-long traffic jams on highways leading out of Houston. Many fled 150 miles northwest to Austin. Along the way, evacuees ran out of food, water, and fuel. Major George Hood said the Salvation Army supplied water to motorists stranded on Interstates 10 and 45.

Once again, churches mobilized, meeting needs that government was too overwhelmed or simply unable to provide. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 80 miles northwest of New Orleans, lies the well-known St. Luke's Episcopal Church. St. Luke's isn't new to hands-on ministry, but the church had never faced the front lines of crisis.

"The thing that was most remarkable for me in terms of disaster ministry [is that] I've always written a check and had somebody else do the work," said Brien Koehler, St. Luke's rector. His church has been helping Katrina survivors find permanent housing and still is temporary home to 10 of the 30 evacuees who have lived in its building since late August.

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September (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49