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Bishops urge safety as Gulf Coast churches brace for Rita

Sep. 22, 2005

NOTE: Photographs and related coverage are available at
http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Report
By Linda Green*

"Heed the warnings."

Three United Methodist bishops and the denomination's director of
disaster response are sending that message to people in the projected
path of Hurricane Rita, the monstrous storm expected to make landfall on
the Texas coast Sept. 24.

"We encourage people to evacuate areas where they have been asked to
evacuate," the leaders said. "Please do that early."

The message came from Bishop William Hutchinson of the Louisiana Area,
Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, Mississippi Area, and Bishop Larry Goodpaster,
Alabama-West Florida Area. The trio met Sept. 21 in Jackson, Miss., with
the Rev. Tom Hazelwood, executive director of U.S. disaster response for
the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

The destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall Aug.
29, and the problems surrounding the government's recovery effort
compelled the bishops and Hazelwood to urge people in Houston,
Galveston, Texas, and along the coast of Mississippi and Louisiana to
get out of harm's way.

"People need to head the warnings to evacuate," Hazelwood said.

Or, as the Rev. Clay Whitaker, chairman of disaster response for the
Texas Annual Conference, put it: "Evacuate. Get Out."

In the past three days, officials in the Texas Annual Conference have
encouraged pastors and laity to evacuate as the situation has unfolded
and to care for their families and take safety.

Bishop Janice R. Huie said most of the coastal area of the annual
conference is in the mandatory evacuation zone. "To the best of my
knowledge, all pastors and church members have evacuated," she said.

"There is a high level of compliance with the evacuation orders, for
which I am grateful," she added.

"We ask for prayers during the next few days," Huie said. "Wherever
Hurricane Rita makes landfall, those of us who are United Methodists
will work to bring relief and reconstruction to the areas."

Whitaker said disaster response organizations in Texas are "preparing to
let the storm do its thing and then begin to pick up the pieces." Those
organizations will begin a daily conference call on Sept. 26 to organize
their work.

As a sign of how serious denomination officials are taking the Hurricane
Rita warnings, UMCOR closed its Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, La., Sept.
22.

The Rev. R. Randy Day, top executive of UMCOR's parent agency, the Board
of Global Ministries, said the agency's directors and staff "are with
the people of East Texas, Louisiana, and other areas endangered by the
approaching Hurricane Rita. ... Let us all learn to be good neighbors to
all who are frightened and in need."

Hurricane Rita, with its 175-mile-per-hour winds, has been classified as
a Category 5 storm-the most severe rating for a hurricane. Weather
forecasters predict the storm to make landfall on the central Texas Gulf
Coast between Galveston and Corpus Christi. They also say that a turn
could hurt the already devastated city of New Orleans.

Having seen what Hurricane Katrina did three weeks earlier, people were
not taking chances. Thousands of people in Louisiana and Texas were
fleeing Sept. 21 and Sept. 22 by car, bus and plane, turning major
highways into parking lots.  Churches in Houston and Galveston that were
sheltering Hurricane Katrina evacuees were moving those survivors to
higher ground in the face of Rita.

"We offer our prayers and support to those in the path of Hurricane
Rita," the bishops said. "The storm could impact an area that has been
generous in helping us following Hurricane Katrina. We have been the
recipients of a lot of support and resources from across the general
church, and we know that will continue for the people in Houston."

While continuing to feed families displaced by Katrina, Memorial Drive
United Methodist Church in Houston was preparing for Rita, said the Rev.
Cynthia Harvey, pastor.

"We do have contingency plans in place should Rita come near Houston,"
Harvey said, in e-mail messages to church members and friends.	In the
meantime, we ask you to prepare you and your family. Check in on your
neighbors, especially the elderly and disabled, the single people and
those with no family in the area.

"There has never been a more important time to be the body of Christ
than now," she wrote.

Louisiana gets ready again

The Rev. Doug Ezell, Lake Charles (La.) District superintendent, said,
"We have advised area United Methodist churches to be ready to use their
vans and buses to take the elderly out of harm's way."

"We encourage our church members, who are already exhausted and stressed
from caring for evacuees for several weeks, to take care while driving
if evacuation is necessary," he said.

Much of the Lake Charles District is under a mandatory evacuation due to
the threat of Hurricane Rita, while a significant portion of the
Acadiana District is under voluntary evacuation.

Meanwhile, Sager Brown announced it was closing. "We will not be
receiving or sending any truckloads into the depot until after Hurricane
Rita has passed. We hope to have our disaster recovery materials
available as soon as possible," said Gwen Redding, director of UMCOR
Sager Brown.

The Louisiana Conference office, in an e-mail, requested that all Lake
Charles and Acadiana District clergy contact their district office after
Hurricane Rita passes to let the office know their location and contact
information.

"We have learned from Katrina that cell phones are not always the most
reliable means of communication. Please give us a landline phone number
if at all possible as well as e-mail and cell phone information," the
conference stated.

Texas battens down

With Rita project to hit over the Sept. 24-25 weekend, Harvey said the
Memorial church office would be closed Sept. 22 and 23 for "battening
down" but that the church would serve lunch for evacuees Sept. 22.

"Our main concern is for you and your family," Harvey said in her
e-mail. "Over the last three weeks, we have learned a great deal from
our Katrina families. The greatest insight we have gleaned is the
importance of community and of family. Many of these families
(biological and self-formed) made it through the storm because they
stuck together. So, stick together," she said.

Bishop Joel Martinez of San Antonio Area has been in contact with
pastors and congregations in "probable" districts that could be affected
by Rita. He said Victoria and Corpus Christi districts may be hardest
hit, and people have been urged to evacuate.

The bishop expects 75 to 100 pastors to leave those areas. More than 50
pastors have taken shelter in Austin, he said.

Numerous churches and institutions that have been assisting Katrina
victims are ready to respond and receive people affected by Rita, he
said. The conference is already housing 100 workers with the Federal
Emergency Management Agency at Mt. Wesley Retreat Center, and Katrina
evacuees are there too.

Travis Park United Methodist Church, San Antonio, is preparing for
Hurricane Rita evacuees, according to Rolando Morales, operations
manager for social justice programs at the church. Already a major
relief center for Hurricane Katrina evacuees, the church, with
assistance from FEMA, is a center for ID recovery.

"We expect to fill the same niche with Rita evacuees," Morales said.

Advice for response

Through the Southwest Texas Conference's Office of Disaster Response, a
checklist of actions before hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and other
disasters threaten was sent to church leaders and members. "Ground all
actions in prayer for strength, calm and focus," the disaster
preparation checklist said. "We don't need panic. God will provide."

Bishops Hutchinson, Ward and Goodpaster offered advice based on their
experience with evacuations. "We also ask churches to set up contact
points so that pastors and their congregations may check in with
information about their personal safety and whereabouts if they have
been displaced," they said.

UMCOR urged people to prepare for Hurricane Rita by having on hand a
three-day supply of food and water, and extra batteries, said Linda
Beher, communications director for the relief agency.

Congregations, she said, should plan to contact the most vulnerable the
most vulnerable - the elderly and sick - in the congregation and have a
list to touch base.

UMCOR officials said the agency would be ready to respond to Rita as
soon as the storm hit. The Mississippi and Louisiana conferences are at
a point in organizing their relief that UMCOR staff can shift to Texas
as needed, Hazelwood said. "Things are doing OK here, and much of the
nurture that we have been providing will continue but will not require
someone on the ground."

The relief agency will release information though e-mail and over its
hotline, Beher said.

In a Sept. 22 statement, UMCOR noted that disasters of this scope "will
require years of recovery and investment."

"Cash is the best gift right now," said the Rev. Kristin L. Sachem, head
of Ulcer's Emergency Services Office. "UMCOR does not accept clothing or
food because they take up valuable space that is needed for critical
emergency supplies." A list of most-needed supplies is available online
at umcor.org.

Donations to support the United Methodist response to Hurricane Katrina
can be made online at www.methodistrelief.org and by phone at (800)
554-8583. Checks can be written to UMCOR, designated for "Hurricanes
2005 Global," Advance No. 982523, or the "Hurricane Rita appeal," UMCOR
Advance No. 901323, and left in church offering plates or mailed
directly to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068.

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in
Nashville, Tenn. United Methodist communicators Betty Backstrom of
Louisiana and Woody Woodrick of Mississippi contributed to this report.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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