wfn.org | Dakota Floods

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (30
notes).

Note 27 by UMNS on April 21, 1997 at 16:01 Eastern (3741 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Bloom                            215(10-21-71B){27}
          (212) 870-2171                            April 21, 1997

Methodists in Dakotas
struggle to keep afloat

               by United Methodist News Service

     When United Methodist Bishop Michael J. Coyner of the Dakotas
Area left his Fargo home April 21, he had to drive over an earthen
dike to get to his office.
     "We're on the endangered list," he said about southwest
neighborhood where the episcopal residence is located. "So far,
we're OK."
     Dikes were created in his and two other neighborhoods over
the weekend which were threatened not by the river, but by flood
waters moving in from farm fields.
     In general, he said, the situation was improving in Fargo,
where strong dikes have prevented all but 3 to 5 percent of the
city from flooding. The Red River, at 38.6 feet, is expected to
start receding.
     None of the seven United Methodist churches in the area have
suffered any real damage, he added.
     But 70 miles north in Grand Forks -- where the Red River was
expected to crest at 54 feet on April 21, 25 feet above flood
stage -- damage was at a catastrophic level.
     Besides extensive flooding, a downtown fire on April 19
claimed at least 11 buildings. Many of the 50,000 residents have
evacuated, and Coyner reported that the Grand Forks mayor had
announced it would probably be six weeks before they could return.
     The two United Methodist pastors in Grand Forks, the Rev.
James Persons and the Rev. Doug Diehl, are living at Grand Forks
Air Force Base, according to Coyner. "They're exhausted," Coyner
said, "mostly emotionally."
     Many of their parishioners are staying with relatives outside
the area, the bishop added. Their two churches and parsonages are
flooded.
     "The real question will be how many people can really
rebuild," Coyner said.
     Some damage also has been reported in rural United Methodist
churches in other parts of the Dakotas and at the church
campground at Lake Poinsett, S.D.
     In Fargo, the early realization that major sandbagging would
be needed -- and the volunteer response to that need -- helped
save the city. "It's unbelievable how well the city and people in
general have responded," Coyner noted.
     In the bishop's neighborhood, for example, volunteer
sandbaggers ranged from Canadian residents to members of the
Minnesota Vikings football team.
     Coyner paid tribute, in an April 21 letter to pastors, to the
"faith, resilience and generosity of the United Methodist people
in the Dakotas."
     Despite the record-setting blizzards during the winter,
United Methodists in the Dakotas set an all-time record in the
first quarter of 1997 "both in terms of dollars given and in terms
of percentage paid," he wrote.
     But the bishop is now asking pastors and congregations "to go
the 'second mile'" and take a special offering for blizzard and
flood relief during the spring.
     "I know that your congregations may have already begun
helping with this relief effort and I know that you have your own
needs to deal with locally, but I call upon you to continue to
show your generous spirit by helping to provide relief..." Coyner
said.
     Others can help, too. The United Methodist Committee on
Relief (UMCOR) is taking donations for relief. Contributions
should be earmarked to Upper Midwest Floods, Advance No. 901670-1,
and can be made through local congregations or by mail to UMCOR,
Suite 330, 475 Riverside Dr., New York, NY 10115.
                               # # #
      

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