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Rome, Italy, Aug 26, 2016 / 04:40 pm (CNA).- Sister Marjana Lleshi awoke in the early house of Wednesday morning to the violent shaking of the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that killed 250 people, devastating several towns in central Italy.

Wounded and trapped under her bed as her convent in Amatrice crumbled to the ground around her, Sr. Lleshi thought for sure that death was imminent, and began sending messages to loved ones telling them goodbye.

However, just when her hope had run out and she was ready to let go, she heard the voice of Louis, a young Columbian caregiver assisting at their home for the elderly, calling out for anyone who might still be alive – a voice she refers to as her “angel” from God.

“I looked around and saw everything was crumbling,” Sr. Lleshi said in an Aug. 25 interview with SIR, the official news agency of the Italian bishops.

She said she had woken up about 30 minutes after the initial shock from the earthquake around 3:30 a.m., and saw rubble falling around her as she came to her senses.

“I had a cut on my head and I asked for help. I looked toward the street, where people were lost and confused,” she said, but “no one responded to me.”

As the building continued to crumble, Sr. Lleshi said she had just enough time to grab a sweater and her veil before taking refuge under her bed, where she decided to stay until help arrived.

“It was at that point that I resigned myself,” she said. “I asked for help in vain. So I began to send messages to loved ones warning that there was an earthquake, that there was no longer hope, that I would die and that it was farewell.”

Though she tried to hold on to her will to live, the nun said she lost hope when no one came, and began to think about those dear to her and the choices she had made in life.

“I retraced my life and saw that the choice to offer it for others was the only one I wanted to make,” she said, noting that “it was precisely in that moment that I heard the voice of the young man calling me, and in that voice I heard the voice of God, who was calling me to life.”

Sr. Lleshi, 35 and originally from Albania, is a religious sister of the Handmaids of the Lord. She had been living in the community's house in Amatrice, one of the towns hardest hit by the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that tore through central Italy early Wednesday morning, killing 250 people.

In Aug 24 ANSA photo #ItalyEarthquake, it's Sister Marjana Lleshi. 3 other nuns & 4 elderly guests died. 3 missing pic.twitter.com/lXZCVSXOq9

— Cindy Wooden (@Cindy_Wooden) August 25, 2016 The epicenter of the quake hit the town of Norcia, about 65 miles northeast of Rome, at 3:36 a.m. with several aftershocks following. According to the BBC, after the tremors stopped the mayor of Amatrice said “half the town is gone.” Rescue efforts are still underway to free anyone who might still be alive, and to search for the bodies of those who were buried under the rubble.

Sr. Lleshi quickly became the face of the quake's destruction when a photo taken by Italian news agency Ansa began to circulate on social media, depicting the nun sitting on the side of the road with a bloodied face and veil.

There were 15 people in total staying at the convent at the time of the quake, including the elderly the sisters attended. Of them, four elderly and three sisters have died – their bodies remain buried in the rubble.

The convent and home for the elderly was located at the entrance of Amatrice and, like the rest of the historic center, was completely destroyed by the earthquake.

Sr. Lleshi told SIR that when Louis finally came to look for survivors, he picked her up and began leading her to safety when they heard the cries of two other sisters.

“Among the rubble I heard one of our sisters asking for help. While we tried to understand where the voice was coming from, we heard another sister complaining because she couldn’t breathe and her legs were blocked,” she said.

In the end the Sr. Lleshi and Louis couldn't move the rubble in order to rescue the other sisters, so they waited beside them until the rescue workers arrived.

The two sisters were sent to the hospital in neighboring Rieti, where they are currently recovering. Sr. Lleshi, however, is currently staying in Ascoli Piceno, where she was treated and kept under medical supervision.

Referring to Louis, Sr. Lleshi said he was “the angel that God sent when I thought I would die and when everything around me was crumbling. It was leveled to the ground and I was like the tip of an inverted cone in the midst of the rubble of crumbs.”

The nun said she doesn't know why God spared her, only that “I saw a God who, in the midst of death, gave life.”

“Thinking of the sisters who are still under the rubble, I have to say that I am no holier than them. So I ask myself, why was I saved and not them?” she said, tearing up.

She noted that “many families are destroyed” and that many people, including Louis, have risked their lives trying save people who could still be alive.

When asked if hope can be found in “angels” like Louis and the rescue workers, Sr. Lleshi said religion doesn’t have anything to do with it, because “we men were made to love and to help others.”

Tragedies such as the earthquake, she said, “reveal what man is regardless of his religion, of his culture, of the goodness of the person itself. Take me. I am no better than the people who didn’t make it. I was saved. Why?”

“Asking me now is useless,” she said, “because I will never have an answer. But sooner or later I will understand, God willing, what he wants of me.”

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Jonathan Bachman, Reuters

By Richard Meek

BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) -- Water lapped at the heels of Father Michael Galea, steady rain an arduous reminder of Mother Nature's unfinished business.

With a sadness in his voice, Father Galea, pastor at Holy Rosary Church in St. Amant, estimated that as many as 90 percent of his parishioners were impacted during the recent historic flooding that touched nearly every corner of the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

"It's going to change the whole dynamic of Holy Rosary as a parish as we know it," Father Galea told The Catholic Commentator, the diocesan newspaper. "It's not going to be the same. And we are going to lose quite a bit of people if they choose to move away.

"But hopefully with love and compassion and a lot of hugs we can become a family all over again. That is what is most important is for us to be together again."

Coming together as a family, whether it is a community, church parish or simply a family dinner, is a question many are asking in the wake of the floods that in some area dumped 20 inches of rain in as many hours. The carnage is stunning.

In Central, it is estimated 27,000 out of 28,000 people were impacted, leaving some to speculate if the suburban community will be able to recover.

In Livingston Parish, a civil jurisdiction, at least 75 percent of residents suffered some type of water damage, with most of the destruction major. Residents in the civil jurisdictions of East Baton Rouge, Ascension and Tangipahoa parishes also were forced to dig out.

Much of Zachary was damaged, as the wide swath of destruction seems endless. In the aftermath many residential streets appeared to be mere passes surrounded by mountains of debris. And the stench permeates one's pores, a smell that eventually subsides but never leaves.

Schools were closed, many for weeks, and businesses were struggling to reopen. Curfews were enacted in civil parishes throughout to lessen the threat of looting in the impacted areas.

Some estimates are as high as 100,000 homes damaged, with thousands fleeing to evacuation shelters. The floodwaters claimed 13 lives, and many others survived only after being rescued from their rooftops, reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina 11 years ago.

"We were straight up survival mode," said Tim Hasenkampf, a Baton Rouge fireman who lives in Port Vincent and lost his house because of flooding.

"It's been tough," added Hasenkampf, who along with his friend spent hours in their private boats rescuing people from their homes in the area.

According to Joe Ingraham, chief financial officer for the Baton Rouge Diocese, six churches took on water and the parish schools at two of those also were damaged. Cristo Rey Baton Rouge Franciscan High School, which opened in August, was inundated with 4 feet of water and has to relocate.

Although the damage was widespread and costly, Ingraham managed to see the silver lining in the storm clouds that blanketed the area for nearly a week.

"It could have been worse, when you see four churches out of 71 severely damaged," Ingraham said. "The worst thing is the damage to our parishioners and their homes."

He said St. Alphonsus and Immaculate Conception were the most severely damaged, each with likely at least $1 million in damage. Those two churches along with St. Anne and Holy Rosary each had flood insurance for up to $500,000 per building, Ingraham said.

Although St. Anthony and St. Jean Vianney did not have flood insurance because they were in areas that previously had never experienced any type of flooding, they are covered under a policy through the diocese.

The storm, which first began to unleash its nearly weeklong fury Aug. 12, packed a one-two wallop that drove water into areas that had never experienced flooding. Initially, torrential rains from the slow-moving system initially caused street flooding, which also forced water into homes.

But the greater damage came in the days that followed as area rivers overflowed their banks and flowed unfettered into neighborhoods, businesses and even major thoroughfares.

At one point, Interstates 10 and 12, the two main arteries in and out of Baton Rouge, were closed. Along I-12, some motorists were trapped in their cars for more than 30 hours, presenting a unique opportunity for ministry for Father Jamin David, pastor at St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Albany.

After surveying the 20 acres encompassing the parish grounds, Father David's focus shifted to the stranded motorists, who were without food, water or even a bathroom.

"We opened up our facilities to everyone," Father David said. "It became a humanitarian effort. Really, it was the multiplication of the fishes."

He said one stranded motorist was a caterer initially headed to Abita Springs, less than 40 miles from Albany. The caterer asked if she could use the parish's stove to cook the food she had with her so it would not go to waste.

"We opened up the kitchen and fed about 500 people," Father David said, adding that the 20 acres around St. Margaret were fine but many of their parishioners have suffered major flooding.

Even as the waters continued to rise, donations, in the form of cash, clothes, gift cards, cleaning supplies and other necessities began to filter in from all over the world. On Aug. 23, the Knights of Columbus donated $200,000 to the diocese and another $30,000 to the Knights' Louisiana State Council.

In an ironic twist, a tractor-trailer from the University of Alabama dropped off a truckload of supplies at the Catholic Charities Diocese of Baton Rouge's warehouse.

Pilots for Patients, a Louisiana-based volunteer pilot organization, flew in three Cessna planes loaded with supplies for the diocese to distribute.

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Meek is editor and general manager of The Catholic Commentator, newspaper of the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

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