Baptists Help After Ky., Texas Flooding
PIKEVILLE, Kentucky, July 21, 2010 - (BP)--Kentucky
Baptist Convention disaster relief is deploying assessment
teams, shower units and mud-out teams to Pike County
after torrential thunderstorms caused flash floods
to pour down into eastern Kentucky hollows and creeks
the night of July 17.
The floodwaters took five lives, washed some 200 homes
and trailers off their foundations, damaged roads and
bridges and destroyed 100 vehicles.
Hardest hit were the Olive Hill, Zebulon and Regina
communities located seven to eight miles north of Pikeville,
where floodwaters reached five feet in some places.
Four to seven inches of rain fell from 4 p.m. Saturday
until 1 a.m. Sunday, according to the National Weather
Service.
Local officials called the Pike County flooding the
worst in years. More than 1,000 lost their electricity
and some 12,000 were without running water when a major
water intake plant was damaged. As many as 25,000 local
residents on the Mountain Water District System were
placed on a boil-water advisory until further notice.
Most power and water has since been restored.
"We're still doing assessment," said Coy
Webb, state disaster relief director for the Kentucky
Baptist Convention. "I feel sure we'll do some
mud-out, but with all the homes completely washed away,
there may not be as much mud-out to do."
The disaster relief teams are working out of Meta Baptist
Church in Pike County, and assistance from other states
may be requested when assessment is complete, Webb
said.
"Two big storms came through and dumped a lot
of rain in a short period of time," he said. "In
eastern Kentucky, there's no place for water to go
but down these knobs and into the hollows."
Since so many of the Pikeville roads were washed out,
Webb said Southern Baptist Disaster Relief will not
mobilize any feeding units because delivery is impossible.
Instead, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army
will provide MREs (meals ready to eat).
Meanwhile in Texas, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief
work continues in the wake of Rio Grande River Valley
flooding caused by Hurricane Alex on June 28 and a
second tropical storm two weeks later.
Some 300 disaster relief volunteers have been deployed
from Texas and New Mexico for mud-out work in both
Texas and across the border in Mexico, according to
Jim Richardson, state disaster relief director for
the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC). A
laundry unit from Louisiana was also deployed in Laredo.
"Mud-out in the Eagle Pass area is winding up," Richardson
says. "We're still involved in mud-out in Laredo,
and will be operational in Rio Grande City when the
floodwaters go down in a week or so."
Richardson said the Rio Grande River is still flooding
from Laredo south.
The heaviest flood damage occurred on the Mexico side
of the border, where Baptist Global Response (BGR)
coordinated the response of partner churches from Texas
and Mexico, Richardson said.
In Mexico, 350 volunteers from SBTC, BGR, First Baptist
Church of Brownsville, Texas, and local churches in
Mexico have cleaned up 16 sites and provided meals
of beans and rice and water for more than 14,000 people.
There have been 133 decisions for Christ.
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) is a partnership
ministry of the state Baptist conventions, the North
American Mission Board and the Southern Baptist Convention.
The assets SBDR brings to disaster events include 88,000
trained volunteers, including chaplains, and some 2,000
mobile units for feeding, chainsaw, mud-out, command,
communication, child care, shower, laundry, water purification,
repair/rebuild, and generators.
Through mid-July, SBDR activity across the United States
during 2010 -- including the response to the Haiti
earthquake -- has included the preparation of more
than 143,000 meals, 18,400 "volunteer" days,
45,000 ministry contacts, 11,500 Gospel presentations
and 1,442 professions of faith.
# # #
By Mickey Noah - Mickey Noah is a writer for the
North American Mission Board.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Baptist Press
Web site: www.bpnews.net
PIKEVILLE, Kentucky, July 21, 2010 - (BP)--Kentucky
Baptist Convention disaster relief is deploying assessment
teams, shower units and mud-out teams to Pike County
after torrential thunderstorms caused flash floods
to pour down into eastern Kentucky hollows and creeks
the night of July 17.
The floodwaters took five lives, washed some 200 homes
and trailers off their foundations, damaged roads and
bridges and destroyed 100 vehicles.
Hardest hit were the Olive Hill, Zebulon and Regina
communities located seven to eight miles north of Pikeville,
where floodwaters reached five feet in some places.
Four to seven inches of rain fell from 4 p.m. Saturday
until 1 a.m. Sunday, according to the National Weather
Service.
Local officials called the Pike County flooding the
worst in years. More than 1,000 lost their electricity
and some 12,000 were without running water when a major
water intake plant was damaged. As many as 25,000 local
residents on the Mountain Water District System were
placed on a boil-water advisory until further notice.
Most power and water has since been restored.
"We're still doing assessment," said Coy
Webb, state disaster relief director for the Kentucky
Baptist Convention. "I feel sure we'll do some
mud-out, but with all the homes completely washed away,
there may not be as much mud-out to do."
The disaster relief teams are working out of Meta Baptist
Church in Pike County, and assistance from other states
may be requested when assessment is complete, Webb
said.
"Two big storms came through and dumped a lot
of rain in a short period of time," he said. "In
eastern Kentucky, there's no place for water to go
but down these knobs and into the hollows."
Since so many of the Pikeville roads were washed out,
Webb said Southern Baptist Disaster Relief will not
mobilize any feeding units because delivery is impossible.
Instead, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army
will provide MREs (meals ready to eat).
Meanwhile in Texas, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief
work continues in the wake of Rio Grande River Valley
flooding caused by Hurricane Alex on June 28 and a
second tropical storm two weeks later.
Some 300 disaster relief volunteers have been deployed
from Texas and New Mexico for mud-out work in both
Texas and across the border in Mexico, according to
Jim Richardson, state disaster relief director for
the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC). A
laundry unit from Louisiana was also deployed in Laredo.
"Mud-out in the Eagle Pass area is winding up," Richardson
says. "We're still involved in mud-out in Laredo,
and will be operational in Rio Grande City when the
floodwaters go down in a week or so."
Richardson said the Rio Grande River is still flooding
from Laredo south.
The heaviest flood damage occurred on the Mexico side
of the border, where Baptist Global Response (BGR)
coordinated the response of partner churches from Texas
and Mexico, Richardson said.
In Mexico, 350 volunteers from SBTC, BGR, First Baptist
Church of Brownsville, Texas, and local churches in
Mexico have cleaned up 16 sites and provided meals
of beans and rice and water for more than 14,000 people.
There have been 133 decisions for Christ.
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) is a partnership
ministry of the state Baptist conventions, the North
American Mission Board and the Southern Baptist Convention.
The assets SBDR brings to disaster events include 88,000
trained volunteers, including chaplains, and some 2,000
mobile units for feeding, chainsaw, mud-out, command,
communication, child care, shower, laundry, water purification,
repair/rebuild, and generators.
Through mid-July, SBDR activity across the United States
during 2010 -- including the response to the Haiti
earthquake -- has included the preparation of more
than 143,000 meals, 18,400 "volunteer" days,
45,000 ministry contacts, 11,500 Gospel presentations
and 1,442 professions of faith.
# # #
By Mickey Noah - Mickey Noah is a writer for the
North American Mission Board.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Baptist Press
Web site: www.bpnews.net