Copper thieves re-flooded Congregation Beth Israel, a Lakeview synagogue badly flooded after Hurricane Katrina. Sliced pipes on the Canal Boulevard building’s second floor sent a torrent of water downstairs, scattering acoustical ceiling tiles and covering the ground floor with several inches of water.

Worst was the huge sunken sanctuary, measuring about 50 by 30 feet, which resembled an open well, filled with 4 feet of water. Left behind were yards of foam that once had wrapped copper piping in the massive building’s air-conditioning and heating system. The thieves had sliced off the foam before making off with the copper.

After the hurricane, hard-hit congregants and volunteers from across the nation gutted and cleaned the entire building, stripping out the carpeting and cutting up century-old pews and benches with chain saws before putting them out for FEMA debris crews. Now, that process has begun again, albeit on a smaller scale.

(Source: Times Picayune)