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Volunteers needed now for Northeast cleanup

 
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7:00 A.M. EDT Sept. 27, 2011



Volunteers in the United Methodist Susquehanna Annual (regional) Conference respond to the call to assist Pennsylvania communities flooded by Tropical Storm Lee. A UMNS web-only photo by Joanne Sivers.
Volunteers in the United Methodist Susquehanna Annual (regional) Conference respond to the call to assist Pennsylvania communities flooded by Tropical Storm Lee. A UMNS web-only photo by Joanne Sivers.

Whether they call it “mudding out” or “mucking out,” seven of the 10 United Methodist annual (regional) conferences in the Northeast are in active disaster mode as they assist communities hit by record flooding at the end of the summer.

The calendar is as much of a hindrance as the mud left behind.

“Our problem is we’re coming up on winter,” explained the Rev. Larry Siikanen, disaster response coordinator for the United Methodist Susquehanna Annual (regional) Conference in Pennsylvania. “We’ve got six or eight weeks to get a lot of these homes cleaned out.”

The same situation exists in New York State. “We are really running against time,” said the Rev. Joseph Ewoodzie, New York Conference disaster coordinator. “We are afraid so many of the homes will not even be gutted or mucked out, so volunteers are urgently needed.”

The goal is to sanitize as many of the salvageable homes as possible — cleaning out all the mud and water, removing all water-damaged materials and doing mold remediation work.

Greg Forrester, Northeastern Jurisdictional coordinator for volunteers in mission, already has sent out an appeal for volunteer teams to all of the denomination’s five U.S. jurisdictions. “We’re on a time crunch here in the Northeast,” he explained. “We really need to get these houses mudded out by Nov. 1.”

Last week, he reported, the Federal Emergency Management Agency approached volunteer groups in New York State to discuss what they needed to speed up the initial cleanup process. But funding for FEMA was stalled in Congress last week.

“People are tired, anxious and frustrated as they attempt to negotiate the myriad of aid offerings and FEMA paperwork,” said the Rev. Dale Ashby, a district disaster coordinator in the New York Conference “Many are still unsure if they will be able to repair their home or if it will have to be demolished.” 



Newfield (N.Y.) United Methodist Church member Cindy Schulte helps in the cleanup work at the church in Owego, N.Y., damaged by floodwaters. A UMNS photo by Maidstone Mulenga/Upper New York Annual Conference.
Newfield (N.Y.) United Methodist Church member Cindy Schulte helps in the cleanup work at the church in Owego, N.Y., damaged by floodwaters. A UMNS photo by Maidstone Mulenga/Upper New York Annual Conference.
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Slow progress

Cleanup has been slowed both by the magnitude of the flooding caused by the rains of Tropical Storms Irene and Lee and by access issues caused by the washout of bridges and roads.

In Pennsylvania, the overflow from the Susquehanna River and its tributaries bypassed some communities while “other areas had the worst flooding in history,” Siikanen said. In some of the “very rural” areas, such as the Loyalsock Creek, north of Williamsport, access has been difficult because the loss of a bridge or road can add 50 to 100 miles to a trip.

He still doesn’t know the full extent of damage to the conference’s church buildings. “We have a number of churches that have had some structural damage,” he said. “Some of our churches in the Wilkes-Barre area got hit the hardest.”

In addition to Siikanen, the Susquehanna Conference has three coordinators working with early response teams. Cleanup referrals are coming through the Red Cross and local communities and the United Methodists are cooperating with other denominational groups, including Mennonites, Lutherans and Southern Baptists.

To beat the start of winter, Siikanen said he “definitely could use more” volunteer teams over the next couple of months. Tens of thousands of homes were affected by the floods and the conference has “more than we can handle, even with the volunteers we have.” Those interested in scheduling a visit can contact him by email.



The Rev. Joseph Ewoodzie, center, New York Conference disaster coordinator, stands between early responders Grant and Mary Ann Fish outside the Prattsville (N.Y.) United Methodist Church. A UMNS photo by the Rev. Joanne S. Utley.
The Rev. Joseph Ewoodzie, center, New York Conference disaster coordinator, stands between early responders Grant and Mary Ann Fish outside the Prattsville (N.Y.) United Methodist Church. A UMNS photo by the Rev. Joanne S. Utley.
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‘Absolutely destroyed’

Forrester, who lives about 40 minutes from where major flooding occurred in the Upper New York Conference, has stepped in as the interim volunteer coordinator there. Towns along the Susquehanna River, he said, “were just absolutely destroyed. In the Nickels area, we’re not talking damage, we’re talking just gone.”

Owego was one of the worst hit, with about 1,200 of its 1,400 homes significantly damaged, Forrester added. “In Apalachin, more than 80 percent of their housing was affected,” while in Tioga Center, “you’re looking at almost 100 percent damage.”

The economic impact is massive, he noted. “What hit hardest, here in the Northeast, is that it affected the full business community. (The floodwaters) took out all of the downtown areas.”

Many farmers had fields in the fertile, low-lying areas covered by the floods. “All of their crops are gone,” Forrester added. “Anything touched by floodwaters can’t be touched by human consumption.”

Linda Cooper, a trained early responder, has worked with cleanup teams in both the Middleburg and Binghamton areas of the Upper New York Conference.

In Apalachin, the team mucked out and power-washed four houses. “That whole area’s a mess,” reported Cooper, a member of First United Methodist Church in Fredonia, N.Y. “Homes had been under water, anywhere from an inch to many, many feet of water.”

Charlie Hodges, volunteer in mission coordinator for the conference’s Cornerstone District, offered training for team leaders Sept. 24 to try to get more teams into the flood zones.

“We’re out there trying to recruit people that are willing to go to work but we’re trying to make sure that (early response) trained people go with them,” he said.

In the Binghamton area, “they’re still trying to muck out the houses and get them ready for sanitation,” Hodges reported. Once sanitized “you have to go through a drying out process…before you rebuild. The need will go on for months as people attempt to get back into their homes.”



Workers tackle the water-damaged sanctuary at Lexington-West Kill United Methodist Church. A UMNS web-only photo by Rev. Wongee Joh.
Workers tackle the water-damaged sanctuary at Lexington-West Kill United Methodist Church. A UMNS web-only photo by Rev. Wongee Joh.

Volunteers in the Catskills

About 70 volunteers a week are working in Prattsville, Lexington, Fleischmanns and a few other small areas in the Catskills, said Ewoodzie, the New York Conference disaster coordinator.

“Local churches are organizing themselves in groups of five to 12,” he explained. “They are assigned to any of these three sites. Some of them go for a day. Some will go for multiple days.”

Lexington and Prattsville “are certainly among the hardest hit communities,” said Ashby, with more damage in Margaretville and Fleischmanns.

“Full recovery may take a couple of years or more,” he said. “In Prattsville in particular, there are many homes that are damaged beyond saving and will have to be demolished.  It is unclear at this time how many might rebuild.” 

On an emotional level, people in the flooded areas are beginning to grieve their loss, particularly as they realize how long recovery make take.

“This is where I believe the church can help on another front by providing spiritual care for folks,” Ashby added. “Our conference has begun gearing up to provide spiritual-care services in addition to our relief and recovery work.”



Helen Homa, a member of Newark Valley, N.Y., First United Methodist Church, shows Bishop Marcus Matthews some of the food donated to flood victims. A UMNS photo by Maidstone Mulenga/Upper New York Annual Conference.
Helen Homa, a member of Newark Valley, N.Y., First United Methodist Church, shows Bishop Marcus Matthews some of the food donated to flood victims. A UMNS photo by Maidstone Mulenga/Upper New York Annual Conference.
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Identifying unmet needs

In Vermont, still in recovery from spring flooding, Irene provoked a widespread disaster, so one of the priorities is “identifying what a lot of the unmet needs are with folks,” said the Rev. Bill Elwell, Vermont disaster coordinator for the denomination’s New England Conference.

At the state level, Elwell was chairman of a small grassroots recovery committee formed after the spring floods. On Sept. 26, he was part of a press conference with Vermont’s governor, Peter Shumlin, announcing the organization of a nonprofit long-term recovery group to work with local flood-affected communities.

In New Jersey, the United Methodist Church of Wayne is the center of volunteer operations for flood–affected residents in Wayne, Paterson and Lincoln Park. Volunteer teams who come to do cleanup have received support from church members who have offered showers, meals and cots. The church’s food pantry also is distributing non-perishable food items and food-related gift cards.

Volunteers able to help with flood cleanup in the Northeast should contact individual conferences to schedule team visits, Forrester said. A list of contacts in available on the Northeastern Jurisdiction Volunteers in Mission website.

He also encouraged volunteer teams to start planning for rebuilding work next spring. “As we’re coming out of the muck-out period, we’re going to structure for a big volunteer response come April,” he said.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

How to help: Donations to assist the denomination’s response to the tropical storm flooding can be made to UMCOR Advance No. 901670, U.S. Disaster Response, designated for Hurricanes 2011.

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