United Jewish Communities/the Federations of North America launched a non-sectarian relief effort today for victims of Hurricane Ike and other storms along the Gulf Coasts of Louisiana and Texas.

The funds will also help support victims of the recent Hurricane Gustav, which struck the Gulf Coast recently, and could be used to help victims of other storms should they strike the area.

UJC today opened a mailbox to accept donations for the hurricane relief, 100 percent of which which will help support both the Jewish and general communities. To donate, please click here.

UJC also urged North America's 157 Jewish federations and 400 Network communities to open mailbox relief efforts for the disaster as well and to ultimately forward those funds to the continental relief effort.

Hurricane Ike struck the southeast Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast early Saturday with 100 mile-per-hour winds and a 13-foot storm surge, badly damaging and flooding the coastal barrier City of Galveston and causing an estimated $16 billion in initial property damage.

After making landfall, the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical storm, but was powerful enough to uproot trees, shatter windows in buildings, damage, down power lines and cellular phone towers, and flood homes and streets. So far there have been at least 30 deaths in eight states due to the storm, according to news reports. None were reported in the Jewish community.

More than one million people evacuated the greater Houston area -- the nation's fourth largest city -- in advance of Saturday's storm, though some 140,000 people reportedly remained behind. Texas officials Monday said they were mounting the biggest rescure effort in Texas history, to remove thousands of people from flooded coastal communities.

Millions of residents were reported to be without power, and officials predicted electricity would not be restored for five to eight days.

UJC Emergency Committee Chair Fred Zimmerman said the funds would help the area's Jewish and general communities recover.

"After initially assessing the storm's impact, we decided the timing was right to begin raising funds for a relief effort to help the Gulf Coast," Zimmerman said.

"So many people, both in the Jewish and general communities, were hard hit by Ike and by other recent disasters, and our continental collective system has proven it can make a major impact."

Initial relief will go toward short-term disaster needs such as food, water and medicines, and for more intermediate needs such as mental-health and other counseling, Zimmerman said. Other needs will be determined as officials continue to assess the overal impact of this and other recent storms, he added.

Since last week, staff and volunteer members of UJC’s Emergency Committee have spoken daily with Lee Wunsch, president and chief executive officer of the Houston federation and the federation’s emergency response team, Network community leaders, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, national, state and local relief agencies, and national Jewish groups and religious movements, to coordinate the UJC/Federation response to the storm.

In the storm's aftermath, UJC also worked with Wunsch and FEMA to ensure medical care was sent to the B'nai B'rith Goldberg Towers senior cititzens facility in Houston, where 300 people remained during the story, and helped deliver Meals Ready to Eat to the residents as well.

UJC’s Network staff has also remained in contact with the non-federated, Network communities in the region. In Corpus Christi initial reports say the community is safe. Efforts continue to reach Jewish evacuees of Galveston as well. One report emerged over the weekend that people were trapped in a flooded Galveston synagogue. UJC coordinated with local and federal law enforcement agencies, who investigated and reported the synagogue was empty.

The UJC Emergency Committee has long been involved with disaster relief efforts and planning, most recently in response to Hurricane Gustav. In 2005 the UJC/Federation system raised nearly $30 million for Hurricane Katrina relief.