Recovery efforts in Slidell continue week after tornado hit the area
SLIDELL, La. (WGNO) — It’s been one week since an EF-2 tornado touched down in Slidell.
Parts of the city are still lined with debris, like on Old Spanish Trail, and crews continue to clean up the mess and work on the damaged utility poles.
“Everybody that can receive power has been heated up,” said Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer. “[If you don’t have power], you go to 211, and there’s resources there for food, for temporary shelter.”
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Over at New Horizon Church, which houses Lakeside Christian Academy and The Bridge Radio 88.7, much work has been done after the tornado took part of its roof, causing portions of the building to flood.
“[We] cut out the wet carpet, take out the wet ceiling tile, the wet insulation, anything that had any moisture in it had to get out,” said John Raymond, the church’s pastor and school’s founder. “Fortunately, Eight Days of Hope sent a huge trailer full of, we had five generators, 45 dehumidifiers, 83 fans. We’ve been able to dry the building out.”
The staff is hoping to resume church service on Sunday and are aiming to get the students back into the building in the fall.
In the meantime, students and teachers have a temporary space close by.
“A very gracious gentleman allowed us to move the school over there. So, we have an amazing faculty of teachers, and they came out with their family members and their pickup trucks and trailers and took out the desks and wiped them off and got them out there and moved everything over,” said Raymond. “So, that was a few days of working to reset the school, but now today, the kids are back in school.”
For more information on assistance, visit the GOHSEP website. Anyone looking to help those in Slidell affected by the tornado can visit the New Church Horizon website and the fundraiser page.
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