Sunday School classes were canceled March 12 at one Alabama church that sustained serious damage from storms that hit the state March 10. Another Baptist church canceled worship services after it also received heavy damage. Several other churches received minor damage.
Volunteers at Westwood Baptist, Forestdale, worked late into the night and throughout the day Saturday after the church’s ground floor was flooded.
“It was pretty messy,” said Gene Rogers, minister of education. “Every area of our ground floor had water in it.”
Rogers said a group at the church noticed water in the building Friday night after rain entered the church when several windows were blown out. He said the water was as high as 45 inches in the education building and other parts of the church.
Benny Hayes, pastor of Stone Memorial Baptist, Tuscaloosa, said most of the church’s ceiling was damaged after an undetermined number of shingles were blown from the roof. He said two columns in front of the church were also toppled as a result of high winds.
“We’ve had pretty extensive damage,” Hayes said. “A lot of shingles were blown off.”
“It (damage) was … all over the church,” Hayes said, noting the affected areas included the sanctuary and education building.
The flooding at Westwood occurred on the ground floor, causing damage to the media center and adult classrooms, along with a benevolence center and youth classrooms. “The flow of the water was so extensive that it knocked out a wall,” Rogers said.
He said a choral suite that was flooded looked like “a sunken living room.” An elevator, computers and other electronic equipment were also destroyed because of the water.
Sunday School classes at Westwood were canceled because of the damage. Rogers said worship services were held as scheduled in the sanctuary, which is located one level above the ground floor.
He praised church members and community volunteers who offered their help following the storm. Rogers said 70-80 people worked at the church until about 4 a.m. Saturday in an effort to pump water out of the church, with 250 working during the day Saturday.
Rogers said insurance representatives indicated to him the church’s policy would probably not cover damages because it does not carry a flood policy.
No information was available at press time on cost estimates for either church, but Hayes said he anticipates the expense of replacing Stone Memorial’s ceiling could be greater than the cost of the shingles.
“I’m still not sure … I don’t know if it’s damaged to the point that it will have to be taken out,” he said.
Hayes said the absence of columns left a porch-like structure in front of the church hanging without support. In addition to the columns and roof, a sign in front of the church was destroyed.
Services were not conducted at the church March 12. Hayes said insurance representatives cited concerns with the ceiling collapsing, as well as possible electrical problems.
Two other Baptist churches in Tuscaloosa, Skyland Boulevard and Hargrove Road, received minor damage. A sign and several trees were blown down at Hargrove Road, along with almost two dozen shingles from the church’s roof. A sign at Skyland Boulevard was damaged after glass was blown out.
High winds and rains wreaked havoc across Alabama, with tornado warnings issued in most counties. One woman, Anne Glavan of Birmingham, was killed in a Tuscaloosa parking lot when she was struck by debris from a billboard.
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