wfn.org | Flood Hits Elba, Ala., Swamps Church

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Contact: 	Joretta Purdue
(10-71B){143}
		Washington, D.C. (202) 546-8722	 March 11, 1998

Flood waters swamp Elba, Ala., 
and its church for second time in 8 years

by Andy Ellis*

	ELBA, Ala. (UMNS) -- An El Nino-powered storm moved slowly
across the Southeastern United States March 7 and 8, dumping as much as
a foot of rain in some sections of south Alabama and claiming five
lives, including that of one child.
	The downtown area of Elba -- a small community in the
southeastern corner of the state -- was under as much as six feet of
water after the rain-swollen Beaver Dam Creek broke through a levee in
two places on the morning of March 8. Beaver Dam Creek is a tributary of
the Pea River, which was responsible for a similar flood in the town in
1990.
	Half of the town's 4,000 residents were forced to evacuate. Due
to the lack of warning and the rapidly rising water, boats and Army
helicopters from nearby Fort Rucker were used to pluck residents from
rooftops.
	The Elba United Methodist Church is under six feet of water, and
many homes near the area have at least three feet of water standing in
them, said Curtis Henderson, associate director of the Alabama-West
Florida Conference Council of Ministries.
	"We are waiting to see what the river is going to do in the way
of cresting," Henderson said. "We will be sending out an alert to all
our districts as soon as we have a better idea of the damage."
	In 1990, the first floor of the Elba church was flooded, and a
building housing the church's fellowship hall was completely under
water. The organ and all of the furniture in the sanctuary had to be
replaced afterward.
	Two of the five deaths associated with the storm occurred in
Elba. Authorities recovered the bodies of a child and a man in a vehicle
found near the main break in the levee.
	Another death was reported in the Gantt community in Covington
County, where a man apparently drove onto a road that had been washed
out. All but two roads in Covington County were closed March 8,
according to the Rev. Jim Carpenter, conference council of ministries
director. Conference offices are in Andalusia in Covington County.
	Two other deaths, one by drowning and one by lightning, occurred
in Mobile, Ala.
	Lawrence Bowden, conference disaster relief coordinator, said
the conference hoped to be able to establish a warehouse to dispense
cleaning supplies in the Elba area.
	"We basically are seeing a repeat of the 1990 flood," Bowden
said. "We have an idea of what to expect in terms of the damage. We just
have to wait and see how much water flows in there."
	The flood stage of the Pea River at Elba is 30 feet. Early
predictions had the river cresting as high as 48 feet. However, it had
reached 38 feet on Sunday night and receded somewhat Monday morning.
State officials were watching the river carefully, fearing waters
upstream could bring more flooding to the Elba area.
	Henderson said he expects conference officials to tour
flood-damaged areas later in the week.
	He remarked that storm-related problems may also exist in the
Marianna-Panama City (Fla.) District, located in the very southeastern
corner of the conference. Again, he noted, accurate damage assessments
will not be possible until the rain-swollen rivers crest and begin to
recede.
				# # #
	*Ellis is director of communications of the Alabama-West Florida
Conference.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/