ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BP) — More than 100 people have died from the havoc wrought by Hurricane Helene, and Send Relief is supporting dozens of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) sites deployed throughout the Southeast: Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia.
On Monday, Sept. 30, Send Relief shipped out a semi-truck load of supplies from its Ashland, Ky., warehouse to support disaster relief sites throughout the Southeast. SBDR teams from 14 different state conventions have mobilized so far.
Hurricane Helene generated some of the most widespread damage from a single event, stretching more than 600 miles from where the storm made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm up into southwest Virginia.
Florida SBDR established feeding and recovery sites at First Baptist Church of Perry, Fla., and First Baptist Church of Live Oak, Florida, with volunteers traveling from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, Alabama, Ohio and Mississippi to support the response.
“We are grateful for the support of Southern Baptists in this response,” said David Coggins, Florida Baptist SBDR director. “This has been a devastating storm across the Southeast, and here at First Baptist Church Perry, we are serving a community that has just been hit by its third storm in 13 months.”
Rain and storm surge led to flooding across Florida’s coastline, hurricane-force winds downed thousands of trees, and Florida SBDR continues to assess the impacted area as volunteers help homeowners clean up the damage.
“Our Southern Baptist Disaster Relief network have come to help us and support us,” said Coggins. “It’s a great picture of the Cooperative Program and the cooperative work that we get to do together to bring help, healing and hope that people need when they are impacted with such devastation in their lives.”
Helene left a trail of destruction in Georgia from Valdosta in the southern part of the state to Augusta in the eastern region of the state, leaving millions without power.
Send Relief’s Ministry Center in Valdosta has been preparing and providing hot meals to those in their community, and they’ve opened their facilities for people to take warm showers, wash their clothes and even simply rest and find respite on site.
“Typically, we are a kid’s camp,” said ministry center Director Jay Watkins. “Typically, we have families in crisis, but today, our community is in crisis.”
Georgia Baptist SBDR staged a kitchen at Northside Baptist Church in Valdosta, and SBDR teams from Arkansas and Kentucky have begun recovery work in the city. They also have established sites in Alma, Statesboro, Mt. Vernon, Vidalia and Augusta.
The western Carolinas have suffered the most catastrophic damage as Helene’s rainfall generated massive flooding that swamped the city of Asheville and surrounding areas. CNN reports that at least 30 people died in Buncombe County alone where Asheville is located.
“We have experienced, in some areas, total destruction from the storm,” said Tom Beam, SBDR director for North Carolina Baptists. “We have people who are hungry. We’re trying to get meals to them as fast as we can. We’ve got people in communities that we don’t know yet if they’re OK because we can’t get to them.”
Local news stations captured footage over the weekend of entire towns flooded, bridges destroyed and multiple dams, like the Lake Lure Dam, struggling to avoid failure.
North Carolina SBDR has established multiple mass feeding and recovery sites throughout the state, with others expected to come online once they are permitted to access areas that have been cut off due to washed out roads.
Beam said that North Carolina volunteers are already in eight different counties doing chainsaw work, flood recovery, installing temporary roofing and mass feeding.
At First Baptist Church of Boone and Biltmore Church’s campus in Arden, SBDR began preparing meals on Sunday, Sept. 29 through their mobile kitchens. At their mass feeding sites, distribution into the community will be supported either by the American Red Cross or The Salvation Army.
“Every time someone comes and asks for help and we’re able to help them, there are many, many more people behind them asking for the same thing or something else,” Beam said. “People are running out of oxygen. People are running out of insulin. People are running out of food. It is a very serious situation in western North Carolina.”
Beam requested prayers as first responders, he and SBDR’s volunteers navigate the historic catastrophe and get help to those in desperate need.
“It is utter destruction,” he said.
For more information on how to donate as well as the latest updates, visit SendRelief.org/hurricane.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Brandon Elrod writes for the North American Mission Board.)
