wfn.org | Hurricane Fran Blasts Presbyteries Across the Southeast;

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

11-Septmeber-1996 
 
 
96354 
    Hurricane Fran Blasts Presbyteries Across the Southeast; 
             Heavy Flooding Hits Areas Further Inland 
 
                          by Alexa Smith 
      
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Though no one is yet clear just how much damage Hurricane 
Fran inflicted across the Southeast, it is obvious that vicious winds and 
heavy rain caused havoc in presbyteries from North Carolina to Virginia and 
swept inland to Maryland. 
 
     According to Presbyterian World Service (PWS) coordinator Stan 
Hankins, reports are slow coming in from isolated sections of North 
Carolina, where telephone and electrical service is still not restored. 
 
     "Our early reports indicate that Presbyterian churches fared quite 
well," said Hankins, qualifying that remark for presbyteries such as New 
Hope and Coastal Carolina, where solid contact has not yet been established 
with heavily hit areas like Wrightsville Beach and more remote, rural 
areas. 
 
     Hankins said $25,000 in One Great Hour of Sharing monies is already 
earmarked for both Coastal Carolina and New Hope presbyteries.  An 
additional $5,000, he said, is being sent to North Carolina's Interfaith 
Disaster Response team, whose coffers were nearly depleted by Hurricane 
Bertha just two months ago. 
 
     But varying degrees of damage are being reported in Shenandoah, The 
James and The Peaks presbyteries in Virginia, Baltimore Presbytery in 
Maryland and in the central part of West Virginia Presbytery -- mostly 
widespread flooding and the resultant closed highways, staggered public 
services, fallen trees and some forced evacuations. 
 
     A Hurricane Fran recovery account has been set up by PWS at 100 
Witherspoon St., Louisville, KY 40202.  The account number is 2000128 and 
should be written on all checks. 
 
     "The storm hit a goodly portion of North Carolina," said New Hope 
executive Barbara Campbell Davis in Rocky Mount.  "Over half the counties 
were hit between our presbytery and Coastal Carolina -- most of the homes 
damaged and trees fallen. ... 
 
     "Many of the churches have flooding in their basements, particularly 
in the Durham-Raleigh area," Campbell Davis told the Presbyterian News 
Service, adding that First Presbyterian Church in Raleigh is reporting 
extensive damage to the homes of many members.  "Raleigh," she said, "looks 
just like a disaster zone. 
 
     "Places it normally takes you five minutes to go take maybe an hour to 
find a through street to get you where you want to go," Campbell Davis 
said. 
 
     That's a story familiar to the Rev. Karin Nurnberger of Barrelville 
Presbyterian Church in Baltimore Presbytery, tucked up in the mountains of 
heavily damaged Western Maryland.  A resident of Westernport -- a mill town 
at the state's western-most point -- Nurnberger said the elementary school 
there is closed indefinitely, and seven or eight homes were totally 
destroyed when George's Creek flooded. 
 
     "It's a mess," she said, adding that parents are waiting to see if the 
Health Department will allow elementary school students to go back to 
school on the second and third floors of the flooded building -- once the 
ground level is disinfected. 
 
     The storm left parts of the coasts of North and South Carolina alone, 
while spewing devastating rains further inland -- from the Shenandoah 
Valley to west of Baltimore.  "These were torrential rains on already 
soaked ground," Hankins said, pointing out that the moisture simply 
saturated the rootballs of trees, loosening and toppling them, even though 
heavy winds died out along the shorelines. 
 
     That sounds akin to the experience of Hillsborough Presbyterian 
Church, a nearly 100-year-old sanctuary in Hillsborough, N.C., near the 
state's dead center, according to choir member Cheryl Morgan.  
     "We've got a big old pecan tree on our steeple," said Morgan, who said 
the steeple is hanging loose.  "Two trees hit the church, several more 
[landed] in the graveyard. ... A lot of people still don't have power. ... 
"Or a phone," she said. 
 
     What's worse for some areas smacked by Fran is that they're still 
reeling from damage inflicted by July's Hurricane Bertha, which is what 
associate executive Nancy McGwier is reporting from Elizabethtown, N.C., in 
Coastal Carolina Presbytery. 
 
     "We're not much aware of church damage," she told the Presbyterian 
News Service Sept. 10, adding that executive Robert Miller was visiting 
some of the coastal areas that day.  "We've been unable to get in touch 
with people in Wrightsville Beach ... and that is the church closest to the 
water. 
 
     "We know there's a lot of damage at the camp and conference center," 
she said.  "Trees are down everywhere.  But the bad part is we haven't 
recovered from Bertha yet and insurance doesn't cover downed trees." 
      New Hope Presbytery is reporting heavy damage to its three church 
camps, according to Campbell Davis. And people in that presbytery are 
anticipating hard times for farmers whose crops were ruined by the brutal 
wind and rain. 
 
     "The cotton is beat to pieces," said Campbell Davis, adding that 
tobacco is unable to dry in such damp conditions.  "This is a big worry in 
parts of rural North Carolina.  So many of our people depend on farming ... 
and a lot of us are concerned about what kind of a crop they'll bring in. 
 
     "Probably by the time this is all done," said Campbell Davis, speaking 
slowly, "there will be a billion dollars' worth of damage, between the 
flooding and the wind." 
 
     In The Peaks Presbytery, secretary Cecily Heusleine said Sept. 11 was 
bringing more rain. "We're really okay ... it's not great," she said of 
Fran.  "There are wet things, trees are down and power outages, but nobody 
died. ... 
 
     "But it's raining today and the rivers are already high," Heusleine 
said. "I don't know what will happen by the time today's over." 

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