wfn.org | United Methodists finish initial flood cleanup in North Dakota

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

July 24, 2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York 10-71B
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By Adeyemi Oshodi*

NEW YORK (UMNS) -- Thanks to assistance from United Methodists, initial
flood clean-up efforts in North Dakota will conclude by the end of July.  

According representatives of the United Methodist Dakotas Annual (Regional)
Conference, which organized relief work following the June rains, the
initial priorities of creating safe, sanitized and secure areas have almost
been met.

Teams of volunteers and community members already have removed sheetrock,
moldy carpets, and sludge from residential areas. More volunteers will be
needed to work through the remainder of July.

Then, those involved in the flooding are being encouraged to take a month to
rest.

The problems began June 19 when seven inches of rain fell on the
Fargo-Moorhead area in six hours, damaging nearly 2,00 homes.  North Dakota
Emergency Management director Dough Friez said the rains were the second
most costly disaster in the state.  

The region has seen its share of damaging weather, most recently the Grand
Forks area flooding in1997. 

"This flood (in June) was really difficult," the Rev. Debra Ball-Kilbourne,
director for mission engagement in the Dakotas Conference, told United
Methodist News Service. "People were just climbing out of the trauma of
1997."

Ball-Kilbourne suggested that while physical clean up has long been
underway, emotional clean up has just begun. "People get emotionally,
psychologically, and spiritually exhausted.  Part of our concern is to
reduce the number of those risk behaviors and to tell people to clean up and
then rest," she explained.

This concern culminated with a full-fledged campaign asking citizens to rest
after the initial work has been completed -- an attempt to avoid the high
stress levels that pervaded Grand Forks area following the 1997 flood.  

A 1997 Fargo news report estimated that complaints of mental health problems
increased by 45 percent, drunk-driving violations increased 129 percent, and
drug and narcotics violations increased 275 percent following the flood.  

The Dakotas Conference, local media, and even fast-food restaurants have
suggested a month-long resting period to give residents time to relax after
the trying period where people are tempted to overexert themselves in order
to get things back to the way they were. 

The period of relaxing also would allow basements and other property time to
dry out, helping to prevent mold from forming. 

United Methodists in the Dakotas Conference have joined with Lutherans to
sponsor Camp Noah, a Christian faith-based day camp for children in grades
K-6. The program was created to reduce post-traumatic stress for children.
"We want to help them understand that life continues after flooding,"
Ball-Kilbourne said.
 
Recovery, including repair and rebuilding work, is expected to begin at the
end of August. A period of community, spiritual, and economical
reconstruction is expected to continue for several years. 

During the initial crisis, the Dakotas Conference received help from various
Christian organizations.  The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
made a $25,000 grant to Great Plains Food Bank (part of Lutheran Social
Services), which lost $225,000 worth of food due to flooding.  UMCOR also
gave the conference $75,000 to provide funds for the unmet needs that emerge
in the future and $10,000 to assist with the partial rebuilding of the
parsonage for Edgewood United Methodist Church, which sustained significant
damage.  
	
"UMCOR has been absolutely wonderful," said Ball-Killbourne.  "They worked
in practical ways with money, tools and speed.  It's been tremendously
helpful."

Interested volunteers can contact the Dakotas Conference Volunteers in
Mission coordinator, Lorna Jost, at (605) 826-4122. Donations, earmarked for
UMCOR Domestic Disaster Response No. 901670-1, can be placed in church
collection plates or mailed to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New
York, NY 10115. Credit card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583.

#  #  #
*Oshodi, a journalism student at Miami University of Ohio, is serving as a
short-term intern for United Methodist News Service in New York..

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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