Stories tagged with: disaster relief

• Wind damage compounds disaster relief challenges

  by Brandon Elrod, posted Friday, June 21, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo courtesy of Chet Haney

  GREENVILLE, Texas (BP) -- Storms with strong straight-line winds have caused havoc in the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the last two weeks, underscoring the severe weather events that have been occurring across the country.

  Just before Highland Terrace Baptist Church in Greenville, Texas, received a direct hit from a wind gust on Wednesday night (June 19), senior pastor Chet Haney and his staff sent an alert to the congregation that church activities were canceled for the evening. Read More

• Record tornado outbreak draws So. Baptist response

  by Tobin Perry, posted Thursday, May 30, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo submitted by Kentucky SBDR

  BEAVERCREEK, Ohio (BP) -- Southern Baptists in Ohio and Kentucky are on the ground and serving Ohio residents impacted by devastating tornadoes. According to the National Weather Service, a record 17 tornadoes hit Ohio on the evening of Monday (May 27).

  Authorities have reported one death due to the tornadoes and about 90 injuries. The storms were among 56 tornadoes that touched down across eight states, stretching as far west as Idaho and Colorado. Monday's damage comes in the midst of 13 straight days of tornadoes hitting the United States through Wednesday (May 29). More than 200 tornadoes struck the Midwest in that span. Read More

• So. Baptists respond to Midwest tornadoes, flooding

  by Tobin Perry, posted Friday, May 24, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo provided by Sam Porter/NAMB

  CARL JUNCTION, Mo. (BP) -- Just days after devastating storms hit the Midwest earlier this week, Southern Baptists have mobilized to help homeowners and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the impacted areas.

  On Monday and Tuesday (May 20-21), a violent storm system swept through the central United States producing 97 tornadoes and leaving at least eight dead. The storms have led to extensive flooding throughout the region, too. Read More

• Chinese church bridges cultural gap after tragedy

  by Carter Tan, posted Wednesday, May 08, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  Submitted photo

  RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- It was a typical Tuesday morning at Grace Chinese Baptist Church when I received an unexpected call from the church secretary, Evelyn Yao. My heart grew heavy as her words began to unfold.

  "The hospital just called our church asking for help. They need Chinese translators."

  A charter bus carrying many Chinese passengers to New York City from Orlando, Fla., had crashed outside our city, Richmond, Va. Read More

• Volunteers still needed for historic Midwest flooding

  by Tobin Perry, posted Friday, May 03, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo by Nick Burt/Arkansas Baptist State Convention

  DAVENPORT, Iowa (BP) -- Amid continued historic flooding in the Midwest, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are working their way through more than 1,400 mud-out requests for homes devastated during the disaster.

  The timing is critical to saving homes in the impacted region, said Sam Porter, national director for SBDR at the North American Mission Board. Read More

• SBDR shines 'ray of hope' after southern storms

  by David Roach, posted Monday, April 15, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from KXAS.

  ALTO, Texas (BP) -- Southern Baptist Disaster Relief units have deployed across the South following a weekend of storms that caused at least eight deaths, injured dozens more and left damage from Texas to Georgia.

  In east Texas, DR units from both Texas Baptist Men and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention deployed after an EF-2 and an EF-3 tornado touched down. At least four people in Texas died, according to media reports, including two children who were killed when a pine tree fell on the car carrying them near Pollok, Texas. Read More

• Community seeing 'glimmers of light' after tornado

  by Grace Thornton, posted Wednesday, April 03, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo by Grace Thornton/Alabama Baptist/BP

  BEAUREGARD, Ala. (BP) -- So much more -- that's what the March 3 tornados were to Rusty Sowell. So much more than he ever could've fathomed.

  He'd heard that tornado's sound like a freight train, but as he and his wife laid on the floor and an F-4 storm crossed over their house, he said it was so much louder than a freight train could ever be. Read More

• Collegians confront Hurricane Michael's aftermath

  by Brandon Elrod, posted Thursday, March 28, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  Photo by Todd Stone/NAMB

  PANAMA CITY, Fla. (BP) -- "Awesome, raw power. Wind and flying debris and trees coming down."

  Jean Bartlett remembers the fury of Hurricane Michael like it was yesterday. The devastating storm devoured much of the Florida Panhandle in October 2018. "Some of the time, it was like white-out conditions. You couldn't see because the wind and the rain were so strong." Read More

• Midwest recovery begins as additional flooding looms

  by Brandon Elrod, posted Tuesday, March 26, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from Fox News

  OMAHA, Neb. (BP) -- Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) leaders have established several sites in the Midwest to respond to historic flooding that has created at least $3 billion in damages in recent weeks.

  "As soon as I got in the airplane and flew back home," said Sam Porter, national director of disaster relief with the North American Mission Board (NAMB), "it was stunning to see the farmland that still has floodwater on it. The river is back within its banks, but the land is so flat that there is still water trapped within thousands of acres." Read More

• Midwest flood response 'to take a long time'

  by David Roach, posted Thursday, March 21, 2019 (5 years ago)

  

  Screen capture from Fox News

  OMAHA, Neb. (BP) -- Several hundred Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are preparing to "put themselves in the offering plate" by responding over the next two months to Midwest floods that have killed four people and displaced thousands from their homes, SBDR national director Sam Porter said. Read More