Rav Ovadiah's Dvar Torah On Hurricane Katrina

[Binyamin Yisrael]

This is from Wikipedia so it has Leftist bias but JTFers know how to interpret it correctly.

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Yosef blamed the tragedy on the Godlessness of New Orleans, on U.S. support for the Gaza disengagement, and on a general lack of Torah study in the area where the hurricane occurred:

There was a tsunami and there are terrible natural disasters, because there isn’t enough Torah study... Black people reside there [New Orleans]. Blacks will study the Torah? [God said], Let’s bring a tsunami and drown them... Hundreds of thousands remained homeless. Tens of thousands have been killed. All of this because they have no God... Bush was behind the [expulsion of] Gush Katif, he encouraged Sharon to expel Gush Katif... We had 15,000 people expelled here [in Israel], and there [in America] 150,000 [were expelled]. It was God's retribution... God does not short-change anyone.[48][49]

Part of the controversy surrounding Yosef's comments was his use of the Hebrew word "Kushim" to refer to the black people of New Orleans which in biblical Hebrew refers to an ancient African people and in contemporary Hebrew is considered derogatory.[50]

[muman613]

I have heard this said before also...

But we must ask about those Torah scrolls which were nearly destroyed in the hurricane. I heard the story of Chabad rescuing 25 Torah scrolls in New Orleans...

http://www.aish.com/j/f/65145782.html

Rabbi Zelig Rivkin

When, in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, the Jewish community stepped forward mightily, saving lives, raising funds, and opening their homes. More, in a daring rescue operation, a coalition of Jewish agencies waded through toxic waters to save 25 Torah scrolls in the New Orleans area, some of which had also been rescued from the Holocaust, “surviving yet a second horrific disaster,” said Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Washington-based Religious Action Center. Chabad officials, were involved in the rescue. Said Rabbi Zelig Rivkin, director of Chabad Lubavitch of Louisiana, "Katrina has destroyed our homes, synagogues, and our city but has not destroyed our community.”

[Dr. Dan]

What did he say about hurricane Sandy?

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

What did he say about hurricane Sandy?

 Nothing that is known.