About 20 Louisiana credit unions were forced to close theirbranches and offices Monday after torrential rains caused historicflooding that claimed seven lives and destroyed thousands ofhomes.

The Louisiana Credit Union League reported Monday that creditunions and their staff are suffering as they struggle to get theiroperations back up and running while coping with the devastatingpersonal losses they've experienced.

“A number of branches and the main office have experienced heavyflooding,” Lucy Hyer, vice president of communications and publicrelations for the Louisiana league, said. “The number of employees,volunteers and members that have been affected is unimaginable. Asthe credit unions report damages to their branches, they areinforming us of employee stories and they are simplyheartbreaking.”

Connie Major, EVP and CFO of the Louisiana league, told the National Credit Union FoundationMonday that many credit union people didn't have enough time toeven consider evacuating.

“Aside from the numerous members affected, we've heard fromcredit union CEOs and staff that have lost everything,” she said.We cannot determine the full impact just yet as people are stillbeing airlifted from their homes via helicopters.”

The league said it has been working closely with credit unionsand assisting them with resources and support since Fridaymorning.

“I believe we will see a significant increase in other requests(from credit unions) over the next few days as soon as we get abetter idea of the impact,” Hyer said. “LCUL has started issuingemergency quick cash grants through the Louisiana Foundation forimmediate assistance, which we hope will help in somecapacity.”

On Monday, the NCUF activated the online disaster relief system CUAid.coop toraise money for credit union people in Louisiana affected bythe disastrous floods.

Credit union supporters in every state can make donationsat cuaid.coop.

CUAid is the only program of its kind that enables credit unionemployees, volunteers and members, as well as credit unions andcredit union organizations across the U.S., to contribute directlyto support other credit union people.

As donations are posted through CUAid.coop, the NCUF willcoordinate with the Louisiana Credit Union Foundation in thedisaster area to distribute money efficiently to affected creditunion employees and members.

One-hundred percent of the donations through CUAid goes tocredit union disaster relief. In the event that all donations arenot used for Louisiana flooding relief, the National Credit UnionFoundation will transfer any and all unused funds to its generaldisaster relief fund for future disaster relief efforts.

It's unknown how many credit unions will be able to reopen theirdoors on Tuesday.

“Credit unions with multiple branches in the area seem to bereopening one by one, but many will either remain closed or onlyhave drive-thru service,” Hyer said. “We send an updated list ofbranch closures via email every morning at 9 a.m. and update thelist on our website on the hour, every hour.”