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Pastor Tony Perkins' Home Among Those Damaged In Louisiana Flooding

The Family Research Council president has mused in the past that natural disasters are God's punishment for various sins.

Published Aug. 18, 2016

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On 18 August 2016, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins reportedly had to leave his home in Louisiana due to rising floods in the area. Perkins posted photographs of his flooded house to his Facebook page on 16 August 2016:

tony perkins

A couple of photos of our home and property this weekend during the Louisiana flood. A devastating situation for our entire community. Appreciate the prayers of so many of you!

Perkins also talked about his experience on the Family Research Council radio show, which he generally hosts:

Guest Host: It is tremendously ironic that one of the individuals impacted is actually the normal host of this show. Mr. Tony Perkins himself, whose home has been overrun by this natural disaster.

Perkins: Well thank you Ken... I had taken a few weeks vacation... And just as I was planning to come back... I mean, this was a flood of biblical proportions. We had to escape from our home on Saturday by canoe... We had about ten feet of water at the end of our driveway. Our house flooded. Our cars. A few of our cars flooded. The significant thing about this is that this has probably effected nearly 80% of the community.  

The story received widespread attention (with a dash of schadenfreude) when some news outlets reported that Perkins has said that hurricanes are God's punishment for homosexuality.  

That claim stems from a 3 October 2015 interview that Perkins did with Pastor Jonathan Cahn. While Cahn was actually the one who tied Hurricane Joaquin (which ravaged the Bahamas in October 2015) to what he said was God's anger with the United States for legalizing gay marriage, Perkins mused (starting at around 13:15 into the podcast) that God may have been "trying to send us a message."

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.