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United Methodists Respond to Hurricane DamageDate: September 22, 2003 
The damage caused by Hurricane Isabel is keeping workers busy from sunrise to sundown at a United Methodist emergency response center in Goldsboro, N.C.
"We've been here all day every day since Friday (September 19)," said Nelson Davenport, materials resource director with the Marion Edwards Recovery Center Initiatives (MERCI), named for the North Carolina Annual (regional) Conference's bishop.
Within three days of the September 18 hurricane, the center had given away half of the 2,000 buckets of flood-relief supplies that it had received from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), Davenport said September 22. "We're going through them fast."
The buckets contain cleaning solutions, disinfectants, rubber gloves, scrubbing pads, sponges, clotheslines and clothespins and other supplies for use in cleaning up water-damaged homes and businesses.
"We are sending out flood buckets and health kits," Davenport said. "We are trying to round up and loan out generators. We're shipping out tarps or house wraps to cover houses with."
As people along the U.S. East Coast recovered from the September 18 hurricane, United Methodist churches and conferences pitched in to help. The hurricane is blamed for at least 35 deaths, with Virginia alone suffering 19 fatalities. About 1.4 million people along the eastern seaboard were still without power as the workweek began, according to news reports.
United Methodists in several states were assessing the damages, and UMCOR stood by to assist conferences needing help. In North Carolina, church relief workers, district superintendents, the bishop and others planned to meet September 22.
In Virginia, the situation varied from one region to another, but much of the state was contending with trees that took down power lines.
Frank Bridgeforth was driving a disaster response trailer to Saluda near the Rappahannock River September 22. The trailers include generators, tools, space heaters, fans, sawhorses, saws and other equipment.
Another trailer was taken to Elton, Va., the day after the hurricane, he said. Four such trailers are positioned around the state for emergencies, he said, and a much larger one with more equipment is stored in Richmond.
"Our churches have fared very well," said the Rev. Joe Savinsky, Norfolk District superintendent. However, he added that he was unable to reach a couple of pastors by midday September 22.
A tree hit the parsonage of St. Andrews United Methodist Church in Virginia Beach, Savinsky said. Most of the damage to other church property was minor: a few shingles blown off or windows broken, he said.
"We're grateful it was only category 2 gusting winds," Savinsky said. "If it had been category 3 or 4, the area really would have been devastated."
Northwest across the state in Waynesboro, the Rev. Gary Milstead of the Main Street United Methodist Church said area churches sustained minor wind and water damage, and fallen trees were commonplace.
Churches in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay area were among the hardest hit. Between 15 and 20 United Methodist churches are in the bay areas of Fishing Creek-Hoopers Island and Rock Hall, which were affected by flooding, according to Tammy Ward, communicator for the Peninsula-Delaware Annual Conference.
Flooding also struck Peninsula-Delaware's Camp Pecometh near Centreville, Md., Ward said.
District superintendents are handling assessments in their areas, and then the conference disaster relief coordinator will oversee the response in those districts, she said. Two of the conference's four districts may have damage.
Despite the impact, Ward had no injuries to report from local congregations. "Blessedly, we haven't heard anything."
In the Baltimore-Washington Conference, Bishop Felton Edwin May contacted UMCOR the day after the hurricane struck, asking the agency for help. Sandy Ferguson, the conference's associate council director, coordinated relief efforts.
While flooding devastated areas of Annapolis, Baltimore and coastal areas on Chesapeake Bay, United Methodist church buildings in the Baltimore-Washington Conference were largely unharmed, she said in a report in the conference's e-connection newsletter. The parsonage at Turner Station United Methodist Church, in Dundalk, sustained flooding in the basement, and roof damage was reported at Brooklyn United Methodist Church.
Ferguson cautioned local churches about setting up as emergency relief shelters. They may, however, work with the Red Cross or other relief organizations to have their doors open, to offer a safe sanctuary, pastoral counseling and refreshments, or to serve as a base for volunteers to organize, she said in e-connection.
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Tanton and Purdue are United Methodist News Service writers.
Photos: 1. Nick Krupski sweeps water and mud from Hurricane Isabel out of his apartment on Norfolk's Willoughy Spit. Credit: DNN photo y PJ Heller. 2. Chainsaws continued to roar throughout North Carolina and other mid-Atlantic states Monday as cleanup continued from Hurricane Isabel. Credit: A Disaster News Network photo, http://www.disasternews.net. Click on any photo to see a larger version.Please give generously to UMCOR's Hurricanes 2003, Advance #982438. Your tax-deductible gift may be placed in United Methodist church offering plates or sent directly to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, N.Y. 10115. Checks should be written to UMCOR. Call 1-800-554-8583 to make a credit card donation. Persons who can volunteer to work in the recovery efforts may call UMCOR's Volunteer Line toll free: 1-800-918-3100.
You can also help replenish the supply of flood buckets at the UMCOR Sager Brown Depot. Flood buckets are filled with cleaning supplies that people use to clean their homes after floods and hurricanes. For assembly and shipping instructions, call the depot at 1-800-814-8765 or visit UMCOR's emergency kits webpage. Please note that UMCOR cannot pay for shipping or pick up flood buckets to transport them to the depot. You may also give a financial donation to purchase cleaning supplies that the Depot staff and volunteers will use to assemble flood buckets. To help purchase cleaning supplies, give to UMCOR's Material Resource Ministry, Advance #901440.
