In the wake of Hurricane Charley, Alabama disaster relief crews have once again been called to action.
Tommy Puckett, director of disaster relief for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said about 100 Southern Baptists from 17 associations have answered the call to staff a communications unit, shower unit and several kitchen/feeding and chain saw/recovery teams. He said as many as 250 total Alabama volunteers could be dispatched by the end of the relief effort.
As of Aug. 20, more than 100 Southern Baptist disaster relief units/teams were activated by the North American Mission Board (NAMB), with others on standby.
Puckett said the Alabama teams have been at their assignments since Aug. 14.
At press time, one shower unit, a communications unit, a feeding team and five chain saw/recovery teams were based at First Baptist Church, Arcadia, Fla. The feeding team worked in a kitchen unit provided and staffed by Mississippi Baptists.
Two feeding teams and one chain saw/recovery team were also stationed at Lake Wales Baptist Church, Lake Wales, Fla.
But as teams are relieved and others come in, assignments may shift, Puckett said.
The teams have already begun rotations and are scheduled to arrive in Florida as late as Aug. 30, when Walker Association’s team will arrive.
Hurricane Charley hit Florida’s western coast near Fort Myers and the Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda area Aug. 13 and traveled across central Florida, exiting the state near Daytona Beach.
At press time, 22 people were reported dead in the wake of the category 4 storm and its aftermath, which left millions without power, water and phone service. The storm also killed five people in the Caribbean.
The strongest storm to hit the U.S. mainland in more than a decade, Charley sustained winds of 145 mph and storm surges hit 13–15 feet.
Mickey Caison, manager of the disaster operations center at the North American Mission Board, said a total of 175 Southern Baptist disaster relief units could be activated in response to Hurricane Charley over the next several weeks.
“We’re talking months for recovery and long-term rebuilding for years,” Caison said. “It’s Hurricane Andrew-type damage that they’re seeing.”
Hurricane Andrew ravaged south Florida in 1992 resulting in billions of dollars of damage. Currently, officials estimate Charley has caused as much as $11 billion in damage to insured homes alone. This does not include the churches, businesses and uninsured homes that lay in the storm’s path.
Puckett agreed, saying he could not place a time limit on when Alabama teams would stop being called on to serve.
“It’s not going to be a two-week stint,” Puckett said. “With the vastness of it, we just don’t see it being quick. Andrew wasn’t quick and neither is this.”
James Davis of Union Grove Baptist Church No. 1, Albertville, said battling the heat in Lake Wales, Fla., presented the biggest challenge for the cleanup crew with which he served.
With no power in the buildings, Davis said crews resorted to car air conditioners to cool off.
“It’s pitiful,” Davis said. “It’s going to be a long time before the people there get back to normal.”
The Alabama associations that have been or will be involved are Baldwin, Birmingham, Calhoun, Chilton, Coffee, Columbia, Elmore, Etowah, Friendship, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan, Sand Mountain, Tennessee River, Tuscaloosa and Walker. Others are on standby.
As of noon Aug. 19, NAMB reported that more than 800 Southern Baptist volunteers from 16 state Baptist conventions have been activated.
Delivering hope
Besides Alabama, state conventions from Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland/ Delaware, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia and the Virginia Baptist Mission Board were assigned to 11 locations across Florida.
Teams and units are assisting with feeding, debris removal, showers, laundry, communication and water purification.
Puckett said as of Aug. 17, a total of 10,600 meals had been prepared by the kitchen/feeding teams from Alabama.
“Those hot meals start to bring a sense of hope that things will get better,” Puckett said.
“It’s encouraging to see God’s people who have been trained in (disaster relief) ministry drop what they’re doing and put aside their plans to help people who are hurting,” he said.
“They bring a sense of God’s hope to devastated communities in their presence, in their work and in their words.”
Although many Southern Baptist churches were hit by the storm, several are still holding services.
Eastside Baptist Church in Punta Gorda, Fla. — one of the hardest hit areas — sported the spray-painted sign “Community service, 11 a.m. Come as you are.”
Two Florida churches have also mobilized to help with relief efforts through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. South Venice Baptist Church and First Baptist Church, Fort Myers, are providing housing and meals for volunteers in Charlotte and Lee counties. Other Florida churches are pitching in wherever they can in their communities.
Power has been restored to many, with the majority of Floridians to have gotten power by Aug. 20 and those in the hardest hit areas to get power by Aug. 29. Federal aid has also begun flowing into the state.
(Compiled from news reports, Erin Webster contributed)
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