Several communities in the Greater Birmingham area suffered extensive damage from heavy storms that barreled through the early morning hours of April 27. Alabama Baptist disaster relief teams assisted in some of the hardest hit areas. These volunteers rolled up their sleeves to aid in yard cleanup and were a welcomed sight to residents reeling from the damage to their homes and property. Neighborhoods along Caldwell Mill Road in Birmingham were hit exceptionally hard. Downed trees, limbs and power lines cluttered yards and streets, and some residential roads were deemed impassable.
Mary Runnels, a resident in her neighborhood since 1972, had never witnessed this level of storm devastation on her block. “We were already up, and we were fixing our breakfast and we had the TV on, and [the weather reporters] were saying that something was coming but they weren’t sure what,” she recounted of that morning. Suddenly, the power went out, strong winds could be heard and trees began hitting the house.
Runnels expressed her thankfulness as she watched a group of volunteers work in her yard. They used chainsaws and heavy equipment to cut through large, uprooted trees.
Resident Allison Davis also had fallen trees covering her family’s front yard. After the storm moved through, they delved into a search and rescue mode throughout the neighborhood to ensure the neighbors were safe. “We went and helped make sure everybody was okay,” she said. “We’re very fortunate the Selma Baptist Association has come through now to help us.”
Lonny Bearden, who was directing disaster relief assessments in Birmingham for Alabama Baptists, cited the group from Selma and a group from a variety of churches within the Birmingham association that pooled together to work in the neighborhood. “The areas that we’re still trying to get into, there are no houses left … just the sheer scope of this disaster is causing all kinds of problems in trying to get coordinated into where the effort needs to be placed,” he reported. “We only have so much resources, and the magnitude of this thing overwhelms anybody.”
The SBOM has 5,400 trained disaster relief volunteers available to serve in a number of ministry opportunities. In addition to meeting people’s physical needs through disaster response, a designated chaplain travels with every disaster relief team to assist with people’s spiritual needs.
“We always have a chaplain, and their sole job is to deal with the people,” Bearden said. He added that all disaster relief volunteers know to stop their work if someone wants to share his or her story.
“We can use all the help we can get for people who want to get trained,” Bearden said. For details or a training schedule, visit www.alsbom.org or call 1-800-264-1225.
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