DALLAS (ABP) — Flash floods swallowed parts of Piedras Negras, Mexico, April 4, prompting Texas Baptists to send blankets, clothes, food and drinking water.
According to reports, more than 50 people have been confirmed dead and another 100 are missing. Most of the city, which is across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, remains without electricity and water. The colonia Villa de Fuente was hit particularly hard.
Dexton Shores, director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas River Ministry, is delivering a truckload of blankets, clothes and drinking water to be disbursed in the city. Meanwhile, a Texas Baptist Men's disaster-response unit is en route to the region, along with water purification equipment. Buckner Baptist Benevolences is sending a load of clothes, shoes and soup.
More than 600 homes were destroyed in the flood. The Rio Escondido, a typically 8-inch deep creek commonly used for washing cars, swelled to 25 feet deep and 12 feet wide.
About 1,500 people are staying in an auditorium in Piedras Negras, Shores said. Nearly 60 are staying at Primera Iglesia Bautista in the border town.
Residents are expressing a mixture of anger and despair, Shores said. Some are wondering why the government did not warn them. Others are trying to put their lives back together.
“There's a lot of shock,” he said. “They don't know what to do.”
Immediate needs remain food, clothes and drinking water, Shores added. For the next three or four days, border restrictions are relaxed to allow used clothing into the area. After that it will be difficult to get supplies into Mexico.
Construction crews also will be needed after the waters recede, Shores said. Caring responses such as providing food and clothing and rebuilding homes, Shores said, are practical manifestations of Christ's love that can lead people into the faith.
“It's a time people are more open,” he said. “They're desperate. They're looking for answers.”
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