TBDR PREPARES FOR FLORENCE

Baptist and Reflector

FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief has been placed on alert status as Hurricane Florence barrels toward the East Coast.

The category 4 hurricane is expected to hit the Carolinas on Sept. 13, continuing into the next day, according to The Weather Channel. Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued in North and South Carolina and Virginia, according to other news reports.

Wes Jones, Tennessee Baptist disaster relief specialist, said all types of teams likely will be needed —feeding, chainsaw, flood recovery, chaplains, assessment, shower, laundry and incident command.

He encouraged teams not to deploy until they receive the call to serve. “Please be patient to allow for assessments and the setting up of the incident command posts and housing arrangements,” Jones said.

Donations for hurricane disaster relief efforts can be made at http://tndisasterrelief.org/contributions/.

“Please do not let your donations to Disaster Relief interfere with what you and your church are doing for the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions offering,” Jones said. “The GOTM offerings along with the Cooperative Program giving of the churches provide the lifeblood of what we do here in Tennessee and around the world.”