Storms severely hammered at least five states over the last weekend in April, but Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) was ready to assist.
At press time, floodwaters in Missouri continue to climb banks, close roads and wash over entire towns but Missouri Baptists remain ready to assist their communities in drying out.
With some parts of the state seeing rain clocking in at more than a foot over the last weekend in April and more rain falling at the start of May, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens declared a state of emergency April 29. Since that time authorities have conducted hundreds of evacuations and more than 30 rescues. According to media reports, at least five people have lost their lives.
The previous record flood in Van Buren, Missouri, was 29 feet; this flood has reached beyond 40 feet. Carter County Sheriff Richard Stephens said 100–150 homes and about 30 businesses in the area have been impacted by floodwater. At the start of May the city was under a curfew from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. As the flood waters begin to recede there, the mud remains.
SBDR volunteers including chaplains, assessors and mass care workers across the state were set on standby for a response once the waters recede farther but two recovery teams have already been called to Neosho. John Yeats, executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, issued an immediate response to the flooding.
Prayers, support
“I’m writing to ask you to support Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief efforts in the wake of significant flooding across southern Missouri,” he said. “Further we are learning that a number of Missouri Baptist churches are under water. I am in contact with the pastors of these churches.”
And while Missouri faces rising floodwaters, Southern Baptists are continuing to assess damage in four other states where tornadoes and storms killed at least 14 people and injured dozens, according to Mickey Caison, North American Mission Board (NAMB) executive director of disaster relief.
SBDR directors in Arkansas, Illinois, Mississippi and Texas sent assessment teams to communities damaged by the storms.
In Texas both the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and the Texas Baptist Men (TBM) of the Baptist General Convention of Texas assessed damage where CNN reported at least four deaths and 49 injuries caused by four tornadoes, one about a mile wide. More than 5,000 homes were in the monster April 29 storm’s path, according to Canton Mayor Lou Ann Everett.
Assessing needs
TBM was busy determining needs in hard-hit Canton and Van Zandt County, TBM disaster relief vice president Ralph Rogers said.
“We have had assessors out in the Canton area which was where a majority of the damage was with the tornadoes,” Rogers said. “A lot of the damage was commercial property and then a lot of rural, out in the country and no houses.”
TBM will likely deploy chainsaw and tarp units as needs are properly assessed, Rogers said.
In nearby Wills Point, Texas, LifeHouse Fellowship cancelled April 30 services and responded to areas damaged by tornadoes, according to the church’s Facebook page.
“We will set our church up as a collection site,” the Southern Baptist church announced April 29, seeking donations of gift cards, bottled water, toiletries and cleaning supplies. The next morning the church posted a request for chainsaws and volunteers to “start cutting trees and cleaning the landscape.”
Arkansas, which saw entire towns overtaken by floodwaters, suffered at least five deaths. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson declared a state of emergency April 30. Other death counts at press time include two each in Mississippi and Tennessee, also the result of flooding and heavy winds.
The weekend storms also drenched areas from Louisiana northeast into Illinois with seven inches to a foot of rain, according to CNN. (BP, TAB)
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