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Georgia flooding activates disaster relief teams

Michael Dover surveys the damage outside his home in Austell, Ga., his backyard a sea of muddy water. Looking at remnants of the water-soaked wood from his workshop piled in his driveway, Dover, like many other Atlanta-area residents, now faces the harsh reality of clean up, reports Baptist Press.

Floodwater that has covered parts of metro Atlanta continue to recede, and now the real work begins. As homeowners, schools and business begin the process of cleaning the mud out of their homes and ripping out soaked drywall, Southern Baptists will be right there alongside them.

Historic flooding, after a two-year drought, caused tremendous damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure in north Georgia. After several days of steady rain, the ground was saturated from Alabama through Georgia into eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. Torrents on Sept. 21 clogged Atlanta's Monday morning commute. By mid-afternoon, school buses had to return students to schools because of impassable roads. Parents were beckoned by school officials to retrieve their children. Rainfall amounts for that day alone, according to the National Weather Service, ranged from 9 to 12 inches in western areas of metro Atlanta. Ten deaths have been reported, with some people still unaccounted for.

In Austell, about 15 miles west of downtown Atlanta, Sweetwater Creek overflowed its banks submerging entire neighborhoods in murky water. It is estimated that 50 percent of homes in Austell have flood damage, with an overall total of 50,000 flooded homes in metro Atlanta.

Georgia Baptist Convention disaster relief units responded as early as Tuesday (Sept. 22) with feeding units. Its mudout units also have been activated.

"Our immediate goal is to get people back in their homes as soon as possible," said Stuart Lang, disaster relief coordinator for the Georgia convention. "Prayer is absolutely vital to the effort right now as we assess the damages and needs in various areas that have been affected."

The North American Mission Board's Disaster Relief Operation Center will open Saturday morning, Sept. 26, to serve as a call center for victims needing assistance. Volunteers will collect, package and pass work orders to the Incident Command Team and the recovery units. NAMB's DR team has alerted surrounding states of the need of mudout and feeding units. A Tennessee Baptist Convention unit is preparing meals for flood victims in Chattanooga, just north of the Georgia border.

"We're working with Georgia Baptists to identify sites and pockets of need across north Georgia," said Mickey Caison, NAMB's team leader for adult volunteer mobilization. "Once again Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are stepping up to provide effective disaster response in cooperation with our state partners." Assisting NAMB and the Georgia convention with need assessment is a team from Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.

This will be a long-term effort, Lang said. "There will be multiple opportunities for volunteers to assist in the future."

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TAGS: USA flooding disaster relief teams Southern Baptists volunteers

[09/29/2009]

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