NEW ORLEANS (ABP) — Although Hurricane Gustav apparently was much less of a disaster than 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, Baptists have mobilized throughout the Gulf Coast region to provide a wide array of disaster-aid services.
From churches hosting evacuees to chainsaw teams and feeding units, disaster-relief teams from Baptist conventions in nearby states were stationed across the area Sept. 2.
Gustav made landfall Sept. 1 between Grand Isle and Houma, La., about 75 miles south of New Orleans, as a Category 2 storm. Both its strength at landfall — much weaker than the Category 4 Katrina — and its location helped prevent a repeat of the Katrina disaster, which killed thousands and inundated the Crescent City.
Meteorologists’ fears that a much stronger Gustav could have made a far more direct and devastating hit on New Orleans prompted officials to order a massive evacuation of the city and region over the Labor Day weekend.
Keys Gymnasium at East Texas Baptist University has been transformed into a FEMA Medical Station to treat evacuees fleeing from Gustav. Nurses from the Oregon Disaster Medical team work at the nurses’ station in a gym normally used for practices and intramurals. The mobile hospital has an 80 bed capacity. ETBU photo by Mike Midkiff
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Now, Baptist disaster-relief workers are preparing both to aid evacuees and to conduct clean-up and reconstruction work.
A Tennessee Baptist feeding unit was dispatched Sept. 1 to Central Hills Royal Ambassador Camp in West, Miss., to await the storm’s landfall and further instructions. The unit is comprised of a dozen trucks and trailers, including a wash unit, kitchen support, dry boxes, refrigerated trailers, generators, a security trailer and a skid loader.
Another feeding unit from Shiloh Baptist Association in Adamsville, Tenn., has been set up at Willow Point Baptist Church in Shreveport, La., and is providing meals for a FEMA shelter there. Additional disaster-relief units in Tennessee and other nearby states were on alert, awaiting further instructions.
“It’s a hurry-up-and-wait situation,” said David Acres, Tennessee Baptist Convention disaster-relief coordinator.
Mickey Caison, disaster-relief director for the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, cautioned state disaster-relief directors during a Sept. 1 conference call “that we are not out of the woods yet.”
While Hurricane Gustav had weakened into a tropical depression by midday Sept. 2, heavy rains resulting from its remnants could still cause tornadoes and extensive flooding throughout the south-central portion of the United States.
East Texas Baptist University President Bob E. Riley, (standing) and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O Leavitt visit with a patient at the FEMA Medical Station located in Keys Gymnasium. ETBU is the site of a 80 bed capacity mobile hospital treating evacuees of Gustav. ETBU photo by Mike Midkiff
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“We are prepared to help in any way that we can,” Acres said.
Disaster-aid workers from Texas Baptist Men, meanwhile, were also preparing Sept. 2 for relief work in the region.
The group’s Disaster Relief Mobile unit — an 18-wheel tractor-trailer rig with the greatest capacity for emergency food service — was located at First Baptist Church in Bryan, Texas, as of Sept. 1.
“It’s like we’re waiting on the shoe to fall,” said Gary Smith, Texas Baptist Men’s volunteer disaster-relief coordinator. “We ramped up. We expected a lot of need, but to this point it has not happened — though a significant rain event still could take place.”
In San Antonio, Baptist Child and Family Services was sheltering about 290 evacuees with special needs as of Sept. 1, and that number was expected to rise. The group can shelter as many as 5,000 people with special needs across the state if needed.
Other shelters operated by Baptist Child and Family Services, a Texas Baptist benevolent agency, were located in San Antonio and Tyler, Texas.
“BCFS was given the role of caring for medical special needs evacuees in Texas because of our experience in caring for society’s most vulnerable,” said Haley Smith, a spokesperson for the organization. “We view this as just another opportunity to impact the world for Christ. We are so thankful for our partner churches who serve as shelters and make it possible for us to take on this role.”
The situation was similar in Tennessee, with churches as far away from the disaster zone as Knoxville and Johnson City preparing to operate as evacuee shelters. Bill Shiell, pastor of First Baptist Church in Knoxville, reported Sept. 2 that 93 evacuees had spent the night in his church’s facilities the evening before.
In the Nashville area, a feeding unit operated by several churches had set up shop at First Baptist Church of Goodlettsville, preparing more than 1,600 meals daily for evacuees.
The Tennessee and Texas teams are part of a larger effort under the auspices of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. More than 100 Southern Baptist feeding units have been put on alert to mobilize along the Gulf Coast states in response to Gustav as well as three more tropical systems that will threaten the United States in the near future: tropical storms Hanna, Ike and Josephine.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, meanwhile, is gearing up for post-storm reconstruction and recovery work.
A statement posted Sept. 2 on CBF’s website said, “Remember that the Fellowship aids in rebuilding efforts following disasters; it is not a first-response or search-and-rescue organization. After the storm, CBF Disaster Response Coordinator Charles Ray and other CBF personnel will assess the needs, determine how the Fellowship can best respond, and communicate those needs to Fellowship Baptists. Response teams will only be sent to the disaster zone when it is deemed safe by state officials.”
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— John Hall of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Lonnie Wilkey of the Tennessee Baptist and Reflector contributed to this story.