Pentecostal Pastor Rescues 600 Hurricane Victims
There are some things you don’t have to pray about. You simply act in faith, knowing you are in God’s will and that He will empower you.
That is exactly what a Jayess, MS pastor did…and God used him.
(9/15/2005)
Jonathon Travis
There are some things you don’t have to pray about. You simply act in faith, knowing you are in God’s will and that He will empower you.
That is exactly what a Jayess, MS pastor did…and God used him.
Brought up in a God fearing home, Michael Trosclair knew what God’s kingdom was all about. He watched as his dad started and pastored churches in Alabama and Louisiana, and his love for people flourished. Raised as a fisherman and trapper in the bayous, he came to know people all over southeast Louisiana, as well as the land and waters from which they made their livelihood.
He knew the bayous, lakes and canals…and their inhabitants…like the back of his hand.
When Hurricane Katrina struck, he instinctively knew the impact it would make on his childhood home of St. Bernard Parish. He had evacuated his home in Jayess, MS at the urging of Rev. Jerry Dillon, and taken his family to safer territory in Dillon’s Madison, MS home. Even though he is pastor of the Oakgrove United Pentecostal church in Jayess, his heart was in southeast Louisiana during and after the storm. And he knew where the fishing boats would have gone to try and weather the storm… Violet Canal -- which is protected by a lock system and runs between the ship channel and the Mississippi River – has always been used by the fishermen to park their boats when a hurricane threatened.
With limited news available, Trosclair began searching the internet, desperately seeking information from St. Bernard Parish. What he found shook him to the core. The only information he could get was that St. Bernard Parish was under water. No one else was able to get out any current information to the news media.
A woman had posted her picture and her story on the web; a frightening story. Her husband had been trapped in the rising waters; waters that had risen over 14 feet in under 5 minutes. For three days he had swam, trying to get out of the murky waters. At night he had tied himself to exposed treetops and debris to keep his head above water as he slept.
Battered and exhausted, he had reached higher ground and had managed to communicate his story to his wife, asking her to plead for help for the masses that were still in the bayous. Her plea was heard. Michael Trosclair sat at the computer dumbfounded. He was looking at a picture of a woman he knew. “Help is coming,” he said aloud to himself.
By now, it was already Thursday morning after Hurricane Katrina had struck on Monday. Time was wasting.
He prepared the boat he had recently acquired; a 21-ft. Chaparral bay boat with a 200 Yamaha engine; just acquired a month before with the help of his friend, Rev. Dillon, who had felt compelled by God to acquire the craft. With no phone or radio contact available and serious fuel concerns, he loaded his pickup truck and hooked up to the boat.
But he needed fuel. By now, gasoline was in short supply. Long lines were formed at all the stations. When he got to the last store, he stopped the truck and got out on the road and asked if he could cut in line…that he had an important mission to go and save his people who were stranded in St. Bernard Parish. The good citizens of Lawrence Country Mississippi allowed him to go to the head of the long line. He quickly filled up his truck and boat fuel cans to make an emergency journey into the unknown.
He then headed into what was left of the land and waterways he had known so well. Navigating the truck through downed trees and power lines, he pressed deeper into the dangerous territory. Some passages were so tight and restricted that pieces of his truck and equipment were torn off. Still he drove forward.
At the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, Trosclair launched his boat into the dark waters, traversed its hazardous channels, and began searching for a passage into the backwaters and hopefully to where he was certain many lives still hung in the balance. The waters were still high and that made all the landmarks seem strange. Piloting his craft under ruined railroad trestles and the remains of the bridge that had once been Interstate 10, he forged deeper into the menacing swampland.
Hours of searching the murky waters filled with floating human bodies finally paid off. He found what the government authorities had not discovered; another breech in the levee. It was the passage he needed to access the back levee canal…right next to the locks at Bayou Bienvenue Canal. These locks are used to control the water level in and out of the levee system which is located about seven miles north of Violet Canal Locks.
For miles he pushed ahead, looking for any clue that may indicate he was near the area he had trapped and fished in for so many years. Around a bend and through a narrow passage was what he had searched for, but was not prepared to see. There it was…Violet Canal. The water was literally filled with overcrowded boats and bruised, muddy, injured victims still in the water after 3 days; people he knew; people treading water that was contaminated from area refineries and chemical plants. The surface was covered with oil and gasoline. Death seemed only hours away.
Finally someone offering life had arrived.
Quickly assessing the situation, Rev. Trosclair sprang into action. Confusion was everywhere. Despair hung heavy in the air. People needed to be removed from the water. More boats were needed. Someone that could think clearly needed to give direction. An evacuation plan needed to be made, and he knew the way out; a route no one else knew even existed. A load of people was assembled and the rescue was underway. Backtracking through the dangerous waters and the unknown breech in the levee, the first group of survivors caught their first glimpse of hope as they were delivered to safety.
More help was called. Additional boats were brought in. The rescue effort grew. They were racing the clock and time was running out. Nightfall was near. Snipers were shooting at the rescuers. When the St. Bernard Parish public officials were notified, they responded with amazement. “There is no one else in that area.” “There is no passage through to where you say you have been.” “There is no other breech in the levee.”
Still Trosclair insisted, “I know they are there and how to get through. I’ve been there!” Slowly the skepticism faded and he was asked to lead an official team to the waiting victims.
The first group to be rescued was 40 nurses stranded at an isolated health facility. Residents clinging tightly to their pets were transported. Torn citizens were pulled from the mire. School buses were gathered to carry the victims. Fish and Wildlife personnel joined the effort.
And Trosclair was appointed as the leader. To make it official, he was made an officer for Homeland Security on the spot. “This badge will get you anything you need,” he was told. He now had all the authority he needed to accomplish this overwhelming task. Rev. Michael Trosclair was now officially heading the largest rescue effort in St. Bernard Parish.
The command center was in desperate need of medicine and supplies. A physician handed him a stack of over 100 prescriptions needed to sustain the life of many stranded victims. Trosclair quickly responded. Forging back across Lake Pontchartrain in his boat and sailing back through the tangled debris, he went in search of the needed commodities.
Being stopped at gunpoint by uninformed law officials didn’t back him down. He had a mission to accomplish and nothing was going to stop him. The mental picture of the battered, hungry, wet, muddy, sick masses of humanity was enough to drive him forward.
As soon as he was in an area where communications were available, he arranged for a shipment of medicine and medical supplies to be airlifted and dropped at the proper coordinates. Because of his new governmental authority, he was able to charge an additional $97,000 worth of needed supplies from a major retail company just on his signature.
He then confiscated two transport vehicles under marshal law to carry the supplies to the designated drop point. State secured roadblocks were opened for him to pass. He drove the vehicles through water where more dead bodies were floating, and eventually right into the area of need. The command center was stunned. “How did you do all of this?” they asked. “The God I serve arranged it all,” was his reply.
While the government was trying to ascertain the need, Rev. Michael Trosclair was following his heart toward the point of need. He became their only source of supplies and outside help. “I told them I’m not acting under parish law or the state law. I’m working under the Good Samaritan Law,” he told officials. As best as he can count, he is responsible for the salvation of over 600 lives.
Now we understand why Rev. Jerry Dillon was led by God to purchase the boat for Trosclair.
There are just some things we need not pray about. We automatically know they are in line with God’s will for humanity. When those moments arrive, we simply move into action as extensions of God’s hand.
“I was going to do everything in my power. They were going to have to shoot me to stop me from going in there,” Trosclair said. “That’s how dedicated I was to this cause.” Once again, God had chosen to use a fisherman turned preacher to save souls.
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