2012 Hurricane Sandy

[QUOTE@right@180="New York is an amazing opportunity to share the Gospel with others in this time of need."
-- Freeman Field]NEW YORK CITY (BP) -- Hurricane Sandy caused 39 U.S. deaths, record flooding, massive power outages and extensive devastation as it roared ashore Monday night near New York City.

SALISBURY, Md. (BP) -- Before Hurricane Sandy ever made landfall, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers were beginning the long effort to aid the East Coast by preparing meals for evacuees in Salisbury, Md. A feeding unit of the Baptist Convention of Maryland-Delaware was active Monday (Oct. 29) at James Bennett High School there. Maryland-Delaware DR director Ellen Udovich said the unit responded to the request from the American Red Cross to provide assistance to evacuees in advance of the storm. The SBDR volunteers already had served 300 meals on their first day of operation. And they were back at work Tuesday morning serving breakfast after the storm passed. Another Maryland-Delaware feeding unit was activated and preparing to serve meals at Middle River Baptist Church near Baltimore. They will join units activating from a dozen states deploying across the hard-hit Northeast. North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell told Baptist Press, "In addition to the devastation this storm is causing, the sheer size of it is going to make it very expensive in terms of relief and cleanup." Ezell voiced gratitude "for all of the Southern Baptist volunteers who make our disaster relief efforts possible. This is a time for every Southern Baptist to be praying and to also consider donating to our disaster relief fund." SBDR established an area command center for the response on Monday at the Pennsylvania-South Jersey Baptist convention mission house in Harrisburg, Pa. On site less than 30 minutes, area commander for the response, Mark Gauthier, reminded SBDR volunteers why they serve. "Our purpose is to meet the spiritual and physical needs of those impacted by disaster," said Gauthier, DR director for the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia state convention. SBDR area command is implementing the deployment of mobile field kitchens to northern and southern New Jersey, Gauthier reported. The current plan is for the kitchens to be operational by Thursday. Assessments are still being made for responses to other affected areas, Gauthier said.

SANTIAGO, Cuba (BP) -- Hurricane Sandy's torrential rains and 105 mph winds slammed eastern Cuba Oct. 25, killing 11 people, among them a couple from First Baptist Church in the hard-hit coastal city of Santiago.

NEW YORK CITY (BP) -- Hurricane Sandy threatened to impact 60 million Americans Oct. 29 as it churned toward the Eastern Seaboard with winds exceeding 90 mph, causing President Obama to declare a state of emergency in the nation's capital and in states from North Carolina to Connecticut. "People will die in this storm," Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley bluntly warned as he urged residents to evacuate or hunker down ahead of the potentially historic storm, which was forecast to make landfall Monday night or early Tuesday along the New Jersey coast. As of Monday afternoon, 116,000 customers were without power in seven states, CNN.com reported. Service on mass transit systems was halted in New York City, Washington and Philadelphia ahead of the storm, thousands of airline flights were canceled, classes were called off for more than 2 million public school students, and government offices were closed. The New York Stock Exchange closed Monday and announced it would remain closed Tuesday, marking the first time it was closed for a weather event since Hurricane Gloria in 1985, CNN reported. Obama, along with Mitt Romney, canceled campaign events because of the approaching natural disaster. "At this stage, everybody is confident that the staging process, the prepositioning of resources, commodities, equipment that are going to be needed to respond to this storm are in place," the president said after meeting with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Southern Baptists were among those assembling resources for a prompt response to the hurricane. Baptist disaster relief directors and volunteers in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey were on alert, officials said, expecting help from Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and other states. Officials expected the hurricane to bring flooding, power outages and fallen trees. In the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey, where officials were expecting a direct hit from Sandy, volunteers were expected to emerge after the storm, disaster relief director Karlene Campbell said. "Because Pennsylvania/South Jersey is getting a direct hit from this, a lot of our volunteers are looking to their own welfare until the storm passes, of course with their property, home and family ..."

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- As cities up and down the East Coast shut down and prepare for the worst from Hurricane Sandy, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders are preparing for a large-scale SBDR response once the storm clears.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (BP) -- Baptists in the Caribbean spent the weekend assessing damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, which left at least 62 people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless before it moved on toward eastern coast of the United States.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- As cities up and down the East Coast shut down and prepare for the worst from Hurricane Sandy, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief leaders are preparing for a large-scale SBDR response once the storm clears.

NEW YORK CITY (BP) -- Hurricane Sandy threatened to impact 60 million Americans Oct. 29 as it churned toward the Eastern Seaboard with winds exceeding 90 mph, causing President Obama to declare a state of emergency in the nation's capital and in states from North Carolina to Connecticut. "People will die in this storm," Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley bluntly warned as he urged residents to evacuate or hunker down ahead of the potentially historic storm, which was forecast to make landfall Monday night or early Tuesday along the New Jersey coast. As of Monday afternoon, 116,000 customers were without power in seven states, CNN.com reported. Service on mass transit systems was halted in New York City, Washington and Philadelphia ahead of the storm, thousands of airline flights were canceled, classes were called off for more than 2 million public school students, and government offices were closed. The New York Stock Exchange closed Monday and announced it would remain closed Tuesday, marking the first time it was closed for a weather event since Hurricane Gloria in 1985, CNN reported. Obama, along with Mitt Romney, canceled campaign events because of the approaching natural disaster. "At this stage, everybody is confident that the staging process, the prepositioning of resources, commodities, equipment that are going to be needed to respond to this storm are in place," the president said after meeting with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Southern Baptists were among those assembling resources for a prompt response to the hurricane. Baptist disaster relief directors and volunteers in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey were on alert, officials said, expecting help from Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and other states. Officials expected the hurricane to bring flooding, power outages and fallen trees. In the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey, where officials were expecting a direct hit from Sandy, volunteers were expected to emerge after the storm, disaster relief director Karlene Campbell said. "Because Pennsylvania/South Jersey is getting a direct hit from this, a lot of our volunteers are looking to their own welfare until the storm passes, of course with their property, home and family ..."

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (BP) -- Baptists in the Caribbean spent the weekend assessing damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, which left at least 62 people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless before it moved on toward eastern coast of the United States.