Stories tagged with: disaster relief

• Disaster relief groups respond to Tennessee tornadoes

  by Diana Chandler , posted Wednesday, March 04, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Photo from Facebook

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- "Zombie land" is how a survivor described the landscape after tornadoes killed at least 24 and devastated communities in middle Tennessee, disaster relief strategist Wes Jones told Baptist Press Wednesday (March 4).

  It's "just bewilderment," Jones, who handles disaster relief for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board (TBMB), told BP as he surveyed damage in Putnam County, where 18 were killed and 20 were still missing after tornadoes struck early Tuesday morning. Read More

• Kentucky disaster relief responds to in-state flooding

  by Mark Maynard/Kentucky Today, posted Monday, February 17, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from WYMT

  MIDDLESBORO, Ky. (BP) -- Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief workers are poised and prepared to begin working in flood-ravaged southeastern Kentucky.

  Following a week of rain, DR assessors on Saturday were able to look over the damage and begin assembling teams. Read More

• Disaster Relief volunteers respond to real-time disaster

  by Tess Schoonhoven, posted Friday, January 17, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Submitted photo

  MONTROSE, Ark., (BP) -- On the morning of Jan. 16, two Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief (ABDR) volunteers found themselves responding to a present emergency -- a real-time disaster.

  ABDR, a subsidiary of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention (ABSC) primarily focuses on giving aid to communities where natural disasters have struck.

  While volunteers were working on repairing a roof damaged from recent tornados in the southeast Arkansas region, they noticed smoke billowing up just a few houses down the street. Read More

• UPDATE: Disaster relief teams respond to U.S. storms

  by Diana Chandler, posted Monday, January 13, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Photo courtesy of pastor Kenneth Todd Stewart

  ANNISTON, Ala. (BP) -- "To God be the glory, great things He has done," rang opening praise at First Baptist Church of Saks in Anniston, Ala., Sunday (Jan. 12) morning, glorifying God for stemming damage when a tornado flew over the church and community the previous day.

  "The weather report for Saks ... said that a tornado did go over here," senior pastor Kenneth Todd Stewart told Baptist Press Monday (Jan. 13). "But evidently it stayed fairly high, because mainly it was steeples and tree tops and power lines [damaged]. Even the homes that got damaged were mainly from trees falling on them, as opposed to the tornado itself touching down and wiping a big path." Read More

• Baptist Union provides relief to Australian fire victims

  by Tess Schoonhoven, posted Monday, January 13, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  AP Photo by Rick Rycroft. Used by permission.

  TOMERONG, Australia (BP) -- Devastating fires rage across Australia and currently show no signs of stopping.

  In an intensified hot and dry season, the country is experiencing its worst fires in years.

  The fires have been ablaze in every state, but New South Wales has been hit the hardest, CNN reported. Read More

• Southern Baptist relief efforts continue in Puerto Rico quake zone

  by Brandon Elrod, posted Friday, January 10, 2020 (4 years ago)

  

  Photo by Christian Acevedo

  YUACO, Puerto Rico (BP) -- The ground is still shaking as southern Puerto Rico continues experiencing aftershocks from earthquakes earlier this week. Send Relief staff and volunteers with local Southern Baptist churches have ramped up their service to residents.

  Thousands of people continue taking shelter either in sanctioned shelters or in non-traditional spaces such as vehicles and tents. Many locations in southern Puerto Rico, both medical facilities and grocery stores, are still relying on generator power to sustain their operations. Read More

• SBTC Disaster Relief teams serve Austin's homeless

  by Jane Rodgers/TEXAN, posted Monday, December 09, 2019 (4 years ago)

  

  Photo by Ronnie Roark.

  AUSTIN, Texas (BP) -- Residents at Austin's new 5-acre homeless encampment near Austin's international airport may have been uprooted from familiar surroundings under the city's 17 overpasses, but they are not going hungry, thanks to volunteers from various charities and faith-based groups, including Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief.

  Acting on orders from Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Department of Transportation crews began clearing Austin homeless camps in early November, a response to the city's relaxation of ordinances prohibiting sleeping and camping in public spaces. Read More

• Church responds to wildfire, victims respond to Gospel

  by Karen L. Willoughby, posted Friday, November 01, 2019 (4 years ago)

  

  Submitted photo

  PETALUMA, Calif. (BP) -- Around 150 people a day for four days this week found love and caring after they were forced to evacuate their homes as a result of the Kincade Fire in northern California. At least 17 of those also received eternal life.

  The Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, as of noon Thursday (Oct. 31), was one of a dozen wildfires blazing in California, including two that started Thursday morning. A "perfect storm" of unusually high winds, overly-dry underbrush and low humidity led to the wildfires, which then led to mandatory evacuations of people living in endangered areas. Read More

• Hurricane Michael: Year later, God still at work

  by Barbara Denman, posted Monday, October 21, 2019 (4 years ago)

  

  Submitted photo

  MEXICO BEACH, Fla. (BP) -- Riding out Hurricane Michael's 161-mph winds at home in Mexico Beach, Fla., Barbara and Bubba Harmon watched as the storm's nine-foot tidal wave rushed toward them, pieces of broken lives, debris and garbage in its wake.

  As the family prepared for the worst, in what seemed like only seconds, the rushing storm surge engulfed an empty lake on their property, diverting the dangerous wave away from their home and saving the family from the devastating onslaught. Read More

• Hurricane Michael one year later: A home for DR volunteers

  by Margaret Colson/Florida Baptist Convention, posted Friday, October 11, 2019 (4 years ago)

  

  Florida Baptist Convention photo

  PANAMA CITY, Fla. (BP) -- Two days after Category 5 Hurricane Michael made landfall on Florida's Panhandle on Oct. 10, 2018, Florida Baptists' disaster relief volunteers were there.

  Headquartered at Hiland Park Baptist Church in Panama City, volunteers were actively assessing damage, beginning to meet needs and sharing God's love. Read More