Bishops urge safety as Gulf Coast churches brace for Rita
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Courtesy of NOAA Satellite imagery shows the path of Hurricane Rita.
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Satellite
imagery shows the path of Hurricane Rita. A UMNS Web-only image
courtesy of NOAA. Photo #w05H022. Accompanies UMNS story #529. 9/22/05 |
Sept. 22, 2005 A UMNS Report By Linda Green* “Heed the warnings.” Three
United Methodist bishops and the denomination’s director of disaster
response are sending that message to people in the projected path of
Hurricane Rita, the monstrous storm expected to make landfall on the
Texas coast Sept. 24. “We encourage people to evacuate areas where they have been asked to evacuate,” the leaders said. “Please do that early.”
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Bishop Hope Morgan Ward |
The message came from Bishop William Hutchinson of the Louisiana
Area, Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, Mississippi Area, and Bishop Larry
Goodpaster, Alabama-West Florida Area. The trio met Sept. 21 in Jackson,
Miss., with the Rev. Tom Hazelwood, executive director of U.S. disaster
response for the United Methodist Committee on Relief. The
destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall Aug. 29,
and the problems surrounding the government’s recovery effort compelled
the bishops and Hazelwood to urge people in Houston, Galveston, Texas,
and along the coast of Mississippi and Louisiana to get out of harm’s
way. “People need to head the warnings to evacuate,” Hazelwood said. Or, as the Rev. Clay Whitaker, chairman of disaster response for the Texas Annual Conference, put it: “Evacuate. Get Out.” In
the past three days, officials in the Texas Annual Conference have
encouraged pastors and laity to evacuate as the situation has unfolded
and to care for their families and take safety.
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Bishop Janice K. Riggle Huie |
Bishop Janice K. Riggle Huie |
Bishop Janice R. Huie said most of the coastal area of the annual
conference is in the mandatory evacuation zone. “To the best of my
knowledge, all pastors and church members have evacuated,” she said. “There is a high level of compliance with the evacuation orders, for which I am grateful,” she added. “We
ask for prayers during the next few days,” Huie said. “Wherever
Hurricane Rita makes landfall, those of us who are United Methodists
will work to bring relief and reconstruction to the areas.” Whitaker
said disaster response organizations in Texas are “preparing to let the
storm do its thing and then begin to pick up the pieces.” Those
organizations will begin a daily conference call on Sept. 26 to organize
their work. As a sign of how serious denomination officials are
taking the Hurricane Rita warnings, UMCOR closed its Sager Brown Depot
in Baldwin, La., Sept. 22. The Rev. R. Randy Day, top executive of
UMCOR’s parent agency, the Board of Global Ministries, said the
agency’s directors and staff “are with the people of East Texas,
Louisiana, and other areas endangered by the approaching Hurricane Rita.
… Let us all learn to be good neighbors to all who are frightened and
in need.” Hurricane Rita, with its 175-mile-per-hour winds, has
been classified as a Category 5 storm—the most severe rating for a
hurricane. Weather forecasters predict the storm to make landfall on the
central Texas Gulf Coast between Galveston and Corpus Christi. They
also say that a turn could hurt the already devastated city of New
Orleans. Having seen what Hurricane Katrina did three weeks
earlier, people were not taking chances. Thousands of people in
Louisiana and Texas were fleeing Sept. 21 and Sept. 22 by car, bus and
plane, turning major highways into parking lots. Churches in
Houston and Galveston that were sheltering Hurricane Katrina evacuees
were moving those survivors to higher ground in the face of Rita. “We
offer our prayers and support to those in the path of Hurricane Rita,”
the bishops said. “The storm could impact an area that has been generous
in helping us following Hurricane Katrina. We have been the recipients
of a lot of support and resources from across the general church, and we
know that will continue for the people in Houston.” While
continuing to feed families displaced by Katrina, Memorial Drive United
Methodist Church in Houston was preparing for Rita, said the Rev.
Cynthia Harvey, pastor. “We do have contingency plans in place
should Rita come near Houston,” Harvey said, in e-mail messages to
church members and friends. In the meantime, we ask you to prepare
you and your family. Check in on your neighbors, especially the elderly
and disabled, the single people and those with no family in the
area. “There has never been a more important time to be the body of Christ than now,” she wrote. Louisiana gets ready again The
Rev. Doug Ezell, Lake Charles (La.) District superintendent, said, “We
have advised area United Methodist churches to be ready to use their
vans and buses to take the elderly out of harm’s way.” “We
encourage our church members, who are already exhausted and stressed
from caring for evacuees for several weeks, to take care while driving
if evacuation is necessary,” he said. Much of the Lake Charles
District is under a mandatory evacuation due to the threat of Hurricane
Rita, while a significant portion of the Acadiana District is under
voluntary evacuation. Meanwhile, Sager Brown announced it was
closing. “We will not be receiving or sending any truckloads into the
depot until after Hurricane Rita has passed. We hope to have our
disaster recovery materials available as soon as possible,” said Gwen
Redding, director of UMCOR Sager Brown. The Louisiana Conference
office, in an e-mail, requested that all Lake Charles and Acadiana
District clergy contact their district office after Hurricane Rita
passes to let the office know their location and contact information. “We
have learned from Katrina that cell phones are not always the most
reliable means of communication. Please give us a landline phone number
if at all possible as well as e-mail and cell phone information,” the
conference stated. Texas battens down With
Rita projected to hit over the Sept. 24-25 weekend, Harvey said the
Memorial church office would be closed Sept. 22 and 23 for “battening
down” but that the church would serve lunch for evacuees Sept. 22. “Our
main concern is for you and your family,” Harvey said in her e-mail.
“Over the last three weeks, we have learned a great deal from our
Katrina families. The greatest insight we have gleaned is the importance
of community and of family. Many of these families (biological and
self-formed) made it through the storm because they stuck together. So,
stick together,” she said. Bishop Joel Martinez of San Antonio
Area has been in contact with pastors and congregations in “probable”
districts that could be affected by Rita. He said Victoria and Corpus
Christi districts may be hardest hit, and people have been urged to
evacuate. The bishop expects 75 to 100 pastors to leave those areas. More than 50 pastors have taken shelter in Austin, he said. Numerous
churches and institutions that have been assisting Katrina victims, are
ready to respond and receive people affected by Rita, he said. The
conference is already housing 100 workers with the Federal Emergency
Management Agency at Mt. Wesley Retreat Center, and Katrina evacuees are
there too. Travis Park United Methodist Church, San Antonio, is
preparing for Hurricane Rita evacuees, according to Rolando Morales,
operations manager for social justice programs at the church. Already a
major relief center for Hurricane Katrina evacuees, the church, with
assistance from FEMA, is a center for ID recovery. “We expect to fill the same niche with Rita evacuees,” Morales said. Advice for response
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Bishop William Hutchinson |
Bishop William Hutchinson |
Through the Southwest Texas Conference’s Office of Disaster Response,
a checklist of actions before hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and other
disasters threaten was sent to church leaders and members. “Ground all
actions in prayer for strength, calm and focus,” the disaster
preparation checklist said. “We don’t need panic. God will
provide.” Bishops Hutchinson, Ward and Goodpaster
offered advice based on their experience with evacuations. “We also ask
churches to set up contact points so that pastors and their
congregations may check in with information about their personal safety
and whereabouts if they have been displaced,” they said. UMCOR
urged people to prepare for Hurricane Rita by having on hand a three-day
supply of food and water, and extra batteries, said Linda Beher,
communications director for the relief agency. Congregations, she
said, should plan to contact the most vulnerable — the elderly and sick —
in the congregation and have a list to touch base.
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The Rev. Tom Hazelwood |
UMCOR officials said the agency would be ready to respond to Rita as
soon as the storm hit. The Mississippi and Louisiana conferences are at a
point in organizing their relief that UMCOR staff can shift to Texas as
needed, Hazelwood said. “Things are doing OK here, and much of the
nurture that we have been providing will continue but will not require
someone on the ground.” The relief agency will release information though e-mail and over its hotline, Beher said. In a Sept. 22 statement, UMCOR noted that disasters of this scope “will require years of recovery and investment.” “Cash
is the best gift right now,” said the Rev. Kristin L. Sachen, head of
UMCOR’s Emergency Services Office. “UMCOR does not accept clothing or
food because they take up valuable space that is needed for critical
emergency supplies.” A list of most-needed supplies is available online
at umcor.org. Donations to support the United Methodist response to Hurricane Katrina can be made online at www.methodistrelief.org
and by phone at (800) 554-8583. Checks can be written to UMCOR,
designated for “Hurricanes 2005 Global,” Advance No. 982523, or the
“Hurricane Rita appeal,” UMCOR Advance No. 901323, and left in church
offering plates or mailed directly to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY
10087-9068. Nashville, Tenn. United Methodist communicators Betty Backstrom of Louisiana and Woody Woodrick of Mississippi contributed to this report. News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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