ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)–As Hurricane Floyd closed in on the South Carolina coast Sept. 15 Southern Baptist disaster relief forces had already responded in force to refugees participating in what has been termed the largest-ever peacetime evacuation in U.S. history.
The evacuation included residents of coastal Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The scale of the effort resulted from the large size of the storm and its path parallel to the coast.
As of Sept. 15 all five of the Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief feeding units were deployed at shelters set up for evacuees, and two of South Carolina’s feeding units were deployed. Eighteen shelters in South Carolina were being manned by Southern Baptists under the direction of the American Red Cross, and many other shelters in both Georgia and South Carolina were set up in Southern Baptist churches. Many of the inland shelters were set up in Southern Baptist churches
“It’s to the point where people are knocking on doors of churches and asking, ‘can we stay here,’” said Mickey Casey, national coordinator for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and an adult volunteer mobilization associate for the North American Mission Board.
Feeding units from Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were being staged at a church near Atlanta for deployment to affected areas as soon as possible after the storm makes landfall, Caison said. All Southern Baptist Disaster Relief units nationwide have been placed on alert for response to the storm as needs arise.
Contributions to help defray the costs of the relief effort may be sent to Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, North American Mission Board, 4200 North Point Parkway, Alpharetta, Ga. 30022. Further information also is available through the www.namb.net/dr web site and by calling (800) 462-8657.
