Friends,
At this point, I am most thankful for the reports I have received from our district disaster response coordinators. Although Hurricane Isaac has not entirely made its way through our conference, it appears we will not have much damage to report at all. Praise God for this! However, as most of you know, other conferences are experiencing uncertain times. Please pray for those at this time. Louisiana and Mississippi are still in the midst of the storm on the seven-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Baypines District
Tim Trent reported that the Baldwin County advisories have been lifted but they are still under tornado watches. There is some flooding and they have responded to some requests for tarps yesterday north of Spanish Fort. This request came from VOAD. Cory has checked on the pastors in the south end of the district and has received no word of any particular needs. He feels the district is in good shape. Phyllis Murray, Director of Blue Lake Camp, was contacted about housing power companies but that has not been needed since the storm went west. They did house a conference pastor and his family/pets that evacuated. Blue Lake Camp is available should electrical or volunteer teams need housing from other conferences traveling into the region.
Marianna/Panama City District
Woody Bollinger and Gary Daniel sent e-mails last night to all clergy. They have not received any responses of any damage or needs at this time.
Mobile District
Ron Baughman reported that it has been raining since last night but the localized flooding is the same as with a normal storm. There are 1,100 residents in Theodore without power. It should be restored by 5:00pm today. Dauphin Island is without power due to an unmanned sail boat hitting a line. Alabama Power will have this restored soon.
Montgomery/Prattville District
Chris Perry has not heard of any needs for chainsaw teams within the AWF Conference. If another conference needs this service, he will notify our trained chainsaw teams.
Pensacola District
Alan Gantzhorn stated that there was no significant damage, just minor flooding.
I have contacted Wayne Napier in the Mississippi Conference to let him know we are on standby should he need resources or ERT teams that we do not need in our conference (which would be minimal). I have also contacted the Florida Conference and they seem to have what they need in house at this time. I have not formally contacted the Louisiana Conference since the storm is still in the area but will as soon as it is appropriate to do so. As always, I will make sure we are welcome and invited before we send teams. Based on the slow movement of the storm, I don't expect the request to deploy trained teams before Friday at the earliest. If you have a team, stay tuned and be on standby. I have asked our district coordinators to report into me tomorrow morning via e-mail. We do not anticipate the need for further conference calls unless there is damage due to the extended rains.
Future communications correspondence will only be sent to our database of trained teams. This information will also be posted on Facebook. This means if you have a trained team the conference is not aware of, it is important you let Susan Hunt know by sending her a list to susan@awfumc.org.
Thank you for your concern, care and prayers during this uncertain time. It is a blessing to serve this wonderful conference. If we have learned anything it is that we are prepared for the next disaster.
Blessings,
Amelia Fletcher
Alabama-West Florida Conference Disaster Response Coordinator