LOS ANGELES (ABP) — California Baptist disaster-relief teams were busy in January aiding flood and mudslide victims after three back-to-back rainstorms soaked normally dry Southern California.
For more than a week, a disaster-relief crew worked out of a kitchen site at First Baptist Church in Newhall, preparing about 6,000 meals, according to Don Hargis, California Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief coordinator.
Hargis explained the meals prepared by California Baptists were “driven to people in the surrounding area affected by the storms. The Red Cross asked us to do this [and] provided emergency rescue vehicles to deliver the hot meals, but allowed California Southern Baptist volunteers to ride along.”
The mudslides and flooding and resultant debris closed many of the area's main roads. Ten people lost their lives in a mudslide in the small town of La Conchita, on the mountainous Pacific coast between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.
Scott Harrell, pastor of Ojai Valley Baptist Church in Ojai, was called the morning of Jan. 12 to minister to families in La Conchita, where the mudslide was a byproduct of the heavy rains that plagued the state for at least two weeks.
“We've had volunteer chaplains here since it happened, and it was my turn,” said Harrell, who in addition to his pastoral duties serves as a chaplain with the Ventura County Law Enforcement Agency. The agency provided counseling and helped police deal with grief-stricken, angry and frustrated residents.
On the Monday of Jan. 10, pastor Bill Newton, his wife and two children were shaken by a noise as “loud as a freight train.” They ran out the front door and watched as seven feet of mud surrounded three sides of their parsonage at First Baptist Church in Casitas Springs, a small town between Ventura and Ojai. “It just came down all at once,” said Newton, who has served as pastor of the church for seven years. “My son was scared stiff.”
The actual foundation of the home shifted with the impact, Newton said.
Pastors in Gold Coast Baptist Association have assisted the family, who are now living with two pet cats in their 33-foot travel trailer.
“They came in and helped us pack up as much as we could, and we are storing it in the church right now,” Newton said. He has since learned his homeowner's insurance does not cover “earth-movement” disasters, leaving the family without a home.
Hargis reported a volunteer crew was scheduled to help clean up the approximately 10 tons of debris around the Newton home beginning Jan. 24. He added the team would assess the house to see if it could be repaired.
Hargis also said crews are being assembled to clean up other homes hard hit by the storms along the coast. Jack Conner, pastor of First Baptist Church in Fillmore said, the church property had roof leaks and some water damage.
“We knew the roof needed to be repaired and we were waiting for a loan from the bank so we could repair it,” Conner said. “The rain beat us before the loan was approved.”
First Baptist Church in Beverly Hills also will have to repair a leaky roof in the fellowship hall, members reported.
And pastor Marty Souter of Set Free Christian Fellowship in Yucaipa has begun drying out his home in Calimesa after water seeped in through the kitchen cabinets “The rain washed the dirt foundation away from the house and started leaking in,” Souter said. “As soon as I got home, some friends and [their] two sons started helping me sandbag the house. A little [water] came through the front door, but [the damage was] mostly under the new kitchen cabinets and into my boys' rooms.”
Hargis reported a disaster-relief team has been activated and was scheduled to begin cleaning homes Jan. 24 around Caliente, Nev., also hard-hit by flooding. A Southern Baptist feeding unit already was operational in the area.
–Kelli Cottrell and Terry Barone contributed to this story.