Reuters/Jonathan Drake
Baptist Press
By BP Staff, posted September 27, 2024
‘Active status’ for Florida Baptist Disaster Relief in Hurricane Helene response
By Margaret Colson/Florida Baptist Convention
PERRY, Fla. – As Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm, made landfall just after 11 p.m., Thursday (Sept. 26) in Taylor County, Florida Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are now on “active status,” preparing to respond quickly to deliver help, hope and healing to those impacted by the storm.
Less than 12 hours after Hurricane Helene’s landfall, David Coggins, FBDR director, said that volunteers are in the process of transporting and setting up equipment and resources at First Baptist Church in Perry, which will serve as the disaster relief command center. As soon as the command center is operational, Coggins said that volunteers can begin providing meals, damage assessment, clean-up and recovery, and spiritual care and witness as they help community address immediate needs.
“I am so thankful for Florida Baptist Disaster Relief, our wonderful volunteers and Florida Baptist churches. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, we are already working to minister to the needs of affected communities, showing Jesus’ love to hurting people in this time of crisis,” said Stephen Rummage, Florida Baptists’ executive director-treasurer, in a social media post.
Hurricane Helene’s landfall marks the third time in just over a year for the Big Bend region to be hit with a hurricane. Category 1 Hurricane Debby made landfall there on Aug. 5 of this year. Category 3 Hurricane Idalia struck the area on Aug. 30, 2023, as the strongest hurricane at the time ever to hit the region. Hurricane Helene’s wind and storm surge have exceeded Hurricane Idalia, thus, giving Hurricane Helene the distinction of being the strongest hurricane ever to strike Florida’s Big Bend.
Hurricane Helene has left havoc in its path, with structural damage and destruction, record-setting storm surges in several areas, fierce winds, soaking rainfall and as many as 1 million Floridians without power. The storm’s path of destruction in Florida extends from the Big Bend southward all the way down the coastline to Tampa Bay and Clearwater Beach and possibly beyond. Tallahassee, just north of the Big Bend, may have been spared the brunt of the storm’s fury.
The hurricane pushed through Florida quickly as it moved northward into Georgia, South Carolina and other states with pummeling rain and wind. More Here
