The Great Flood of 2016

Have you ever been in a rain shower that you could not see out of your windshield? Or have you experienced a storm that was so loud in your home that it scared you? That is the kind of rain that fell during the Great Flood of August 2016.  The rain was caused by a low-pressure system that moved into our area and stalled out just north and east of us. The counterclockwise circulation acted as a vacuum picking up moisture from the warm Gulf of Mexico water and dropping it over a large swath of south-central Louisiana.  

This weather phenomenon was classified meteorologically as an inland-sheared tropical depression (which is tantamount to an aggressive monsoon and considered by some to be a sort of “stationary hurricane” without the wind) which saturated our flat inland area with an estimated 7.1 trillion gallons of rainfall.  The Great Flood of August 2016 was ranked with some of the top producing rainfall systems in recorded history and was considered a once-in-a-millennium event.  There was no chance of escaping it.

Along with many residents of our area, we suffered great damage as all our buildings were inundated with flowing flood waters for an extended period. It was a sad day. It was shocking. It disturbed our schedules and our lives. Within 48 hours, we went from normalcy to a full-fledged, unprecedented flood-disaster never experienced in our area.  We could not have church.  We could not begin school (which was slated to start 72 hours after the day of the flood). Many people in the area could not access their homes.  Families were displaced as they dealt with flooding in their homes and property.  Roads were closed.  Businesses were closed.  Life literally stopped.  For us specifically, our church, our school, our fellowship hall, our Sunday school classes, our office, our equipment shed, and nearly all of our contents were ruined.  It was like the flood of Noah in that the slate was wiped clean, and similarly, we were about to have a brand-new start. This was the beginning of our journey from our location on Duhon road in Lafayette parish to our brand new, 23 acre, campus on 300/302 Town Center Parkway, Lafayette, Louisiana, 70506.