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Kentucky Baptists Helping Pike County Recover from Flooding
07/21/2010
PIKEVILLE - Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are helping Pike County residents clean up their homes after last weekend’s floods.
Coy Webb, disaster relief associate for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, said an initial team of 13 volunteers arrived July 21. He said he expects additional workers to join the group, bringing the Kentucky Baptist contingent to 40-60.
"Two big storms came through and dumped a lot of rain in a short period of time," he said. "In eastern Kentucky, there's no place for water to go but down these knobs and into the hollows.
“We’ve got a huge number of people that lost their homes,” Webb added.
According to the National Weather Service, two people were killed in flash floods that stemmed from heavy rains on Saturday and early Sunday when up to seven inches of rain fell over parts of central Pike County.
Local officials called the Pike County flooding the worst in years. More than 1,000 residents lost electricity and some 12,000 were without running water when a major water intake plant was damaged. As many as 25,000 local residents on the Mountain Water District System were placed on a boil-water advisory. Most power and water has since been restored.
Meta Baptist Church in Pikeville is providing its facility as a base of operations for the Kentucky Baptist volunteer effort. The team is led by Harold and Karen Smith, members of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Shepherdsville.
Because many Pikeville roads were washed out, Webb said Southern Baptist Disaster Relief will not mobilize any feeding units because delivery is impossible. Instead, the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army will provide MREs (meals ready to eat).
Trained Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief workers available to serve in Pike County are encouraged to contact Cindy Henderson by e-mail at cindy.henderson@kybaptist.org. Through Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief, more than 7,000 individuals have been trained to respond to natural and man-made crises with an array of services. Feeding units can provide thousands of meals on short notice. Volunteers in other units can move in with chainsaws to remove debris, remove mud from flooded homes and provide other assistance.
Kentucky Baptists are part of a larger network of Southern Baptist volunteers that comprise the third largest relief organization in the United States. To learn more about Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief, go to www.kybaptist.org/dr.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Story by Mickey Noah of the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board and Dannah Prather of the Kentucky Baptist Convention
