wfn.org | Cal.-Nevada Floods

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3368 notes).

Note 3366 by UMNS on Jan. 9, 1997 at 15:44 Eastern (4386 characters).

SEARCH: floods, California, Nevada, United Methodist
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                          12(10-21-71B){3366}
          New York (212) 870-3803                     Jan. 9, 1997

EDITORS NOTE: A sidebar accompanies this story.

Some manage to stay dry
during western floods

                 by United Methodist News Service

     When a friend asked Lois Black to fill in for him during Jan.
5 services at New Spirit United Methodist Church in Sutter,
Calif., she didn't realize she would be running a flood evacuation
center as well.
     Shortly after the pastor left town on Jan. 2, a mandatory
evacuation was announced for people living along the Feather River
dividing Sutter and Yuba counties. Among the nearly 100,000
evacuees were members of First United Methodist Church, Yuba City
and First United Methodist Church, Marysville.
     Black, who is on staff at the Yuba City church, soon found
the small country church in Sutter overwhelmed with people seeking
shelter, food and other necessities. "We ended up with a peak of
about 400 people over a five-day period," she said.
     The towns of Yuba City and Marysville remained dry. And for
some other United Methodists dealing with overflowing rivers in
California and Nevada, the worst also did not happen.
     At the United Methodist Church in Point Pleasant, Calif.,
which was expected to be flooded, the water came to the top of the
sandbags and stopped. For Sunday services on Jan. 5, members
arrived by boat or simply waded across to the entrance.
     In downtown Reno, Nevada, a wall of sandbags also protected
First United Methodist Church from the raging Truckee River across
the street.
     In other areas, however, the struggle against too much water
was continuing on Jan. 8, according to the Rev. Craig Paterson,
disaster response coordinator for the United Methodist California-
Nevada Annual (regional) Conference.
     "The little town of Meridian is still fighting for it's
life," he told United Methodist News Service. Volunteers continued
to shore up a protective berm or wall around the town, measuring
6-feet high, 10-feet wide and nearly a mile long.  Meridian,
threatened by encompassing waters, includes a United Methodist
church.
     In the Manteca area, between Modesto and Sacramento, another
500 homes have been lost and 2,500 were threatened, Paterson
reported. "There's significant danger in the delta today and
tomorrow (Jan. 8-9)," he said, explaining that high tides in the
bay were forcing the flood waters back up.
     At least $1.5 billion in damages has been estimated so far in
19 of California's 42 flooded counties. According to Paterson,
more than 6,000 homes have been destroyed or heavily damaged in
California and Nevada.
     But sandbagging sometimes can be a lifesaver, as demonstrated
by the efforts of volunteers and members at First United Methodist
in Reno, the oldest church in the city.
     The church ordered in two truckloads of sand, according to
the Rev. Jacqueline Meadows, pastor. "We started sandbagging
Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 1) and built a wall," she said. "We also
helped sandbag areas around the church as well. Just as we got
through, the water came over (the river banks) and started moving
toward the church."
     Although it took about 35 hours for the water to go down, the
sandbags held and the congregation only had to clean up rainwater
that had soaked through the window wells into the basement.
     Meadows and about eight or nine other United Methodist
pastors and lay people attended a Jan. 6 interfaith meeting in
Reno with officials from the Red Cross and Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA). Through the city's Metro Ministry, they
expect to assist flood victims.
     In Sutter and Yuba counties of California, the Rev. John
Sheppard, First church, Yuba City, and the Rev. Randy Andersen,
First church, Marysville, are part of an interfaith steering
committee for relief efforts.
     Sheppard explained that the ministerial association, as it
did for the 1986 floods, is incorporating an organization called
Disaster Relief Interfaith (DRI) to plan for long-term care,
support and rebuilding.
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