CRITICAL AID HELPING TEXANS FIND ‘SOME SENSE OF NORMALCY’

KERRVILLE — While Baptist Disaster Relief teams are meeting immediate needs in central Texas, some clean-up efforts in areas like Kerrville may be on hold another two to four weeks before they are accessible, says a DR leader.

For now, DR teams continue providing critical aid where they can in the wake of the deadly floods that killed at least 120 people statewide during Fourth of July weekend — and left many more still missing.

Southern Baptists of Texas Disaster Relief and Texans on Mission, who also partner with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, have deployed feeding units, chaplains and mud-out crews to central part of the state, with First Baptist Church Kerrville serving as a relief hub.

The deadly flood waters that swept through the Texas Hill Country overnight on July 4 killed 27 at Camp Mystic, a Christian girls’ camp.

As of July 10, volunteers had prepared more than 750 meals, completed dozens of laundry and shower services, and made hundreds of ministry contacts, according to numbers released by Send Relief, the compassion ministry of the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board.

Mud-out teams in Kerrville, meanwhile, are waiting for search and recovery efforts to be completed before they can move ahead, said Debra Britt, on-site “white hat” leader for Southern Baptists of Texas Disaster Relief. See related story from the Southern Baptist Texan.

“At this point we don’t know how many homes have been impacted,” Britt told The Baptist Paper. “So it could be another two weeks, four weeks before we can get in.” They also hope to find some other areas that may be ready to assess, she said. Meanwhile crews in San Saba are going “full-blast.”

“We’ve got recovery teams going in and cleaning houses and getting them ready for rebuild there,” she said. “We’re just not able to do that yet here.”

Through their work and ministry, Britt said the teams hope to help local residents regain “some sense of normalcy.” And she wants people to know they are “representing, and blessed to be able to represent, the hands and feet of Jesus — and offer hope during a time of crisis.”

Marc Hooks reflected on the relief efforts before wrapping up his coverage for now (check out Hooks’ reflections on the trip).

“Over the last couple of days we have seen sorrow, loss, grief and devastation,” said Marc Hooks in a report for The Baptist Paper.

Hooks also encouraged believers to continue to pray for relief efforts.

“We’ve also seen stories of great hope. We’ve seen stories of God at work in the midst of the floodwaters. …  We’ve seen stories of incredible people doing incredible things. … The story here is not over, and it will be a long time before the story here ends.”

Gov. Greg Abbott has acknowledged mounting questions over emergency response and missing persons data. B&R — More coverage of the tragedy in Texas can be found online at the Baptist and Reflector’s partner news service: thebaptistpaper.org.