Minnesota Churches Provide Assistance in Flood Areas

April 22, 1997: In Breckenridge, Minn., the United Methodist Church is the distribution center for emergency food and supplies to flood victims in the area.

In Ada, emergency generators supplied by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), helped keep the community going when power lines went down.

In Crookston, members at Wesley United Methodist Church have been cooking around the clock, preparing meals for evacuees and the National Guard.

The Rev. Duane Gebhard, Northwest district superintendent for the United Methodist Minnesota Annual (regional) Conference, called the April flooding of a number of northwest communities a major disaster. He has toured many of the affected areas and maintained regular contact with local pastors.

"These are all towns that have tributaries that lead toward the Red River," he explained in an April 22 interview. It is the Red River which has nearly destroyed Grand Forks, N.D., and continues to threaten other towns.

Ranging from south to north, the affected Minnesota towns include Montevideo; Odessa; Ortonville, near Big Stone Lake and the South Dakota border; Breckenridge; Moorhead, near Fargo, N.D.; Ada; Crookston; and Warren, northeast of Grand Forks.

In Warren, which had a serious flood last year, "all the downtown area was under flood water" from the Snake River, according to Gebhard.

But he added that residents were better prepared than the previous year. Water receded from the streets by April 21 and the next day, people were building more dikes to guard against any recurrence.

The United Methodist church there, which still had an unrepaired basement from the previous flood, was kept dry by the diligent efforts of its new pastor, the Rev. Bill Dimick. "He literally built the dike all around the church and the parsonage," Gebhard said.

Close to 500 homes in Crookston were swamped when ice dams broke the dikes. Yet later, when faced with 4,000 evacuees from nearby East Grand Forks, residents took them in. "The amazing thing is how the people there are rallying," he noted. "You would never know they had just been through their own flood."

Wesley United Methodist Church there has become the food preparation center for the Salvation Army. Most of the kitchen workers are congregation members.

Gebhard himself carried 12 UMCOR-donated generators, 20 sump pumps and other emergency equipment to the town of Ada, which first suffered a late blizzard which disabled high voltage power lines and then was flooded by the Wild Rice River.

Temperatures dropped again and everything was frozen solid. The cleanout was unique, as the frozen waters were scooped up. "I've never seen flood waters carried out in dump trucks," he said.

Despite their problems, according to Gebhard, the town's 1,700 residents now feel fortunate compared to the plight of citizens of Grand Forks.

However, damage in Minnesota has been significant. As of April 21, 53 counties had been declared federal disaster areas and the Minnesota Division of Emergency Management had estimated 12,000 people displaced from their homes.

"Every town, you talk of two-, three-, four-hundred homes sitting in flood waters," Gebhard said.

Besides the financial and material damage, there is "serious concern" about the mental health of flood victims in Minnesota and North Dakota, according to Lloyd Rollins, UMCOR's assistant general secretary.

Problems stemming from harsh winter storms and spring flooding could bring sharp increases in the rates of depression, divorce, suicide, substance abuse and other stress, he said.

During the last two months, UMCOR has conducted five pastoral care workshops for about 100 ministers of various faiths and are scheduling more.

In Minnesota, an April 28 workshop has been scheduled at Grace United Methodist Church in Fergus Falls for all clergy and church leaders in the crisis area. It will be led by UMCOR representatives, Bishop John Hopkins and Gebhard.

Financial contributions may be made to UMCOR's Domestic Disaster Response, Advance #901670-1. Give through your local United Methodist church or mail contributions to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Call (800) 554-8583 to make a credit card donation.

One hundred percent of your gift to this Advance Special goes to the emergency. UMCOR staff and administrative costs are funded through the generous gifts of United Methodists to their One Great Hour of Sharing. Volunteers may call the Volunteer Line at 1-800-918-3100.

Source: United Methodist News Service.