Iskcon New Orleans Devotees Trapped

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Hurricane disaster in New Orleans

Hurricane Photo Gallery

....If anyone reading this has the ability to communicate by phone, please inform

the New Orleans emergency authorities that there are at least 15 Hare Krsna

devotees, including the devotees hurt in the recent accident, in urgent need of

evacuation at 2936 Esplanade Ave, New Orleans, and if possible they need to get

to New Talavan in Carriere, Mississippi, where our community can care for

them...

 

 

 

A full day after the city thought it had escaped Katrina's full fury, two levees

broke and spilled water into the streets of New Orleans on Tuesday, swamping an

estimated 80 percent of the bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city, inundating miles

and miles of homes and rendering much of New Orleans uninhabitable for weeks or

months.

 

New Orleans temple before hurricane

 

Presiding Deities of New Orleans temple

Sri Sri Radha Radha-Kanta

 

Sri Sri Gaura Nitai

 

Jagganath, Subhadra and Baladev Deities

 

A Letter from GBC:

Dear Devotees,

Hare Krsna! Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila

Prabhupada! All glories to Sri Nrsimhadeva!

On Monday August 29 ISKCON New Talavan and ISKCON New Orleans were hit by

Hurricane Katrina, a devastating Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 175

MPH. The eye of the storm came ashore near Gulfport and Biloxi, Mississippi,

and passed within 10 miles of New Talavan.

On Monday evening (after the hurricane passed) the New Orleans devotees reported

that there was no wind damage at the New Orleans temple and residential building

although all the trees in the area were down. There was no electricity or phone

service. The devotees were all safe and the Deities were being served nicely.

However the next day two of the levees in the city broke and the city began to

fill up with water. Most of the city of New Orleans is below sea level and at

this time 80 percent of the city is under water. We have not heard from the

devotees in New Orleans since the break in the levees. We are praying for their

safety. The Mayor has ordered a mandatory evacuation of the entire city. It is

most likely that the water has risen to at least 10 feet around the temple

which means that the temple room and kitchen are under water and sustaining

extensive damage.

By Krsna's grace and Lord Nrsimhadeva's mercy, everyone at New Talavan is OK.

There were no casualties or injuries.

Here are the details about New Talavan: By dawn on Monday the winds were over 60

MPH. The hurricane peaked about 11 AM. There was a short lull and then the winds

picked up again in the reverse direction. Many trees are down-up to 50% of trees

in some wind-exposed areas. The roads are completely blocked, electricity and

phones are down, even cell phones because the towers rely on electricity to

function.We had no significant damage to the Temple and kitchen. There was some

slight damage to the men's ashram, temple office and sannyasi quarters. There

was heavy wind and rain damage to the Gurukula building, and our workshop

building was devastated. One devotee's trailer was destroyed by falling trees,

and another devotee's cottage lost part of the roof. There may be other damage

in remote parts of the farm that we have not yet seen. Extensive

cleanup and repairs will be required before we are back to anything near normal status.

Krsna's cows are fine; as far as we know none were injured by falling trees.

They were seen placidly grazing in 120 MPH winds! Cows are something else. We

do have a lot of fence damage, however, and will have to manage our herds

carefully to keep them on the property and out of danger until the fences are

repaired.

We do not expect to have electricity for a few weeks. Roads everywhere are

blocked by fallen trees until county bulldozers can get around to clearing

them. So no one is going anywhere for awhile. Fortunately, we have plenty of

food, gasoline and diesel fuel. Our water system has a propane-powered

generator. As soon as we can clear some roads, we will have a diesel generator

for the temple and kitchen. The devotee community is pulling together to repair

the damage, and we expect that things will turn out well. We are thankful for

Krsna's merciful protection.

=================================================================We are

requesting the world-wide community of devotees to assist in repairing the

damages sustained at New Talavan/New Orleans. These two temples were

established by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada.

We estimate that the cost of repairs in New Talavan and New Orleans will exceed

$100,000. Of course they could be far more depending upon how damaged the New

Orleans temple is. In addition the temples will be without any income for the

next few months.

We have set up an account for donations to this most important cause. You can

send your donations to:

Checks (made out to ISKCON-disaster relief program)

ISKCON-disaster relief program PO Box 897 Hillsborough, NC 27278

 

Bank Wire Transfer:ISKCON-Disaster Relief ProgramAccount#1000035163483Suntrust

BankHillsborough, NCUSABank Routing Number: 053100465

 

Credit Card Web PaymentGo to: www.paypal.comSend your donation to: bkgoswami (AT) earthlink (DOT) net

Thank you,Your servant,Bir Krishna das Goswami

New Talavan surviving the hurricane

 

....New Talavan is a different situation. Although we have well water, LP cooking

gas and some bhoga, supplies such as LP gas, gasoline, diesel fuel, dahl, rice,

oats, cash etc. are running low and need to be rationed. There is no phone

service, and the electricity will be out for at least two months. If we don't

start our own massive cleanup operation, it will be months before the local

government can clear the county roads. The devotees have already cleared the

roads on the farm itself, but we are still cut off from the surrounding area.

Our need and request is to please contact FEMA administrators (601 960-9999)

and the Red Cross (800 GET-HELP). Inform them about our community in NW Hancock

County, north of Leetown at 31492 Anner Road, We are providing water and meals

for locals and 23 devotees on the temple property. If they can supply us with

LP

gas, rice, oats, beans, corn, canned tomatoes, butter and sugar, gasoline and

diesel fuel to run our generator, etc., we can supply meals to many people from

the surrounding community...

 

 

 

During the hurricane

The temple building

 

The temple building

The temple building

 

 

A letter from Dasanudas Prabhu

 

Dear Devotees,Hare Krsna! Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to

Srila Prabhupada! All glories to Sri Nrsimhadeva!Yesterday New Talavan and New

Orleans were hit by Hurricane Katrina, a devastating Category 5 storm with

sustained winds of 175 MPH. The eye of the storm came ashore near Gulfport and

Biloxi, Mississippi, and passed within 10 miles of New Talavan.By Krsna's grace

and Lord Nrsimhadeva's mercy, everyone here at New Talavan is OK. There were no

casualties or injuries. However, we have had no contact with New Orleans temple

since the storm. The situation in New

Orleans is critical: extensive wind damage and flooding, highways into the city

are devastated, and many casualties. We advised the New Orleans devotees on

Sunday to evacuate to the farm before the storm hit, but they could not be

convinced to leave. We are very concerned about the devotees there.Here are the

details: the storm hit yesterday early morning. By dawn the winds were over 60

MPH. The hurricane peaked about 11 AM. There was a short lull and then the

winds picked up again in the reverse direction. Many trees are down-up to 50%

of trees in some wind-exposed areas. The roads are completely blocked,

electricity and phones are down, even cell phones because the towers rely on

electricity to function. We had no significant damage to the Temple and

kitchen. There was some slight damage to the men's ashram, temple

office and sannyasi quarters. There was heavy wind and rain damage to the

Gurukula building, and our workshop building was devastated. One devotee's

trailer was destroyed by falling trees, and another devotee's cottage lost part

of the roof. There may be other damage in remote parts of the farm that we have

not yet seen. Extensive cleanup and repairs will be required before we are back

to anything near normal status. Krsna's cows are fine; as far as we know none

were injured by falling trees. They were seen placidly grazing in 120 MPH

winds! Cows are something else. We do have a lot of fence damage, however, and

will have to manage our herds carefully to keep them on the property and out of

danger until the fences are repaired. We do not expect to have electricity for a

few weeks. Roads everywhere are blocked by fallen trees until county bulldozers

can get around to clearing them. So no one is going anywhere for awhile.

Fortunately, we have plenty of food, gasoline

and diesel fuel. Our water system has a propane-powered generator. As soon as we

can clear some roads, we will have a diesel generator for the temple and

kitchen. The devotee community is pulling together to repair the damage, and we

expect that things will turn out well. We are thankful for Krsna's merciful

protection. Our only means of communication is via our satellite internet

system. All other means of communication and travel are presently down. We

can't even get out of our driveway because of huge fallen trees! We will check

our email daily and keep the devotional community up to date on our progress.

Please especially pray for the well-being of the devotees trapped in New

Orleans.Now we know why Srila Prabhupada wanted self-sufficient farm

communities. What happened in New Orleans can happen anywhere. your

servant,Dasanudas Vanacari

 

After the hurricane

 

A tree fell on the building

 

Uprooted trees

 

 

The school building is destroyed

 

Hurricane tore this roof

 

Uprooted trees

 

A letter from Yogindra Vandana Prabhu

Perhaps when civil and governmental authorities find the New Orleans devotees,

they will ship them to New Talavan or engage them in cooking and serving meals

to the other storm refugees. If anyone reading this has the ability to

communicate by phone, please inform the New Orleans emergency authorities that

there are at least 15 Hare Krsna devotees, including the devotees hurt in the

recent accident, in urgent need of evacuation at 2936 Esplanade Ave., and if

possible they need to get to New Talavan in Carriere, Mississippi, where our

community can care for them.New Talavan is a different situation. Although we

have well water, LP cooking gas and some bhoga, supplies such as LP gas,

gasoline, diesel fuel, dahl, rice, oats, cash etc. are running low and need to

be rationed. There is no phone service, and the electricity will be out for at

least

two months. If we don't start our own massive cleanup operation, it will be

months before the local government can clear the county roads. The devotees

have already cleared the roads on the farm itself, but we are still cut off

from the surrounding area. Our need and request is to please contact FEMA

administrators (601 960-9999) and the Red Cross (800 GET-HELP). Inform them

about our community in NW Hancock County, north of Leetown at 31492 Anner Road,

We are providing water and meals for locals and 23 devotees on the temple

property. If they can supply us with LP gas, rice, oats, beans, corn, canned

tomatoes, butter and sugar, gasoline and diesel fuel to run our generator,

etc., we can supply meals to many people from the surrounding community. It is

stunning and shocking to have your entire social system stripped down naked.

There are some here who have lost their mental equilibrium, perhaps

the greatest danger of such a disaster. All of our books distributors and Food

for Life collectors worked the New Orleans tourist district, which is under

water and will not reopen for months. We cannot even send or receive mail,

which was another important source of income. All the banks and ATMs are closed

and inoperative. For the time being, our schedule revolves around the sun coming

up and going down. We have altered our sadhana and Deity schedules to

accommodate the lack of lighting and water. Mangal-arati will continue to be at

4:30 but we are offering only burfy and milk. Afterwards, the devotees just

chant japa. At sunup around 7 AM, the devotees can bathe and dress the Deities.

Then we cook and offer breakfast around 10 AM. Then again around 3 PM we can

cook and offer about 6 PM, have arati, class and distribute prasadam. The daily

temperatures are still in the 90s, so the devotees welcome and relish

the cool mornings and evenings.Please send us your prayers and let's not forget

the two seriously injured boys in the ICU in El Paso. Lalita-pranesvara Prabhu

is there alone caring for them. His cell phone number is 504 638-4874. Please

call him, since we cannot, and inspire him to continue his difficult service.

Although we are down, we are far from out; so with your prayers and blessings

we will be back stronger than ever. Hoping this finds y'all relishing the mercy

of Guru and Gauranga,your servant,Yogindra Vandana das Adhikari

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