Floyd's fury

Lutheran, The, Nov 1999 by Bleazard, Rob

Hurricane Floyd spared Gene Roth, but barely. About 8 p.m. Sept. 15, she entered a second-floor bedroom when a hurricane-spawned tornado slammed her lakeside home in Creswell, N.C.

The tornado snapped century-old trees but gave the house only a glancing blow. It decapitated the attached garage and blew in windows, smashed a firstfloor solarium and drove branches like daggers through the roof and walls in several spots of the main house.

Roth believes she would not be alive if the tornado had struck seconds later and found her at the window rather than the doorway. The twister hit suddenly, without warning

"We didn't hear it," says Roth, who was not hurt. Neither was her husband, Herbert, a retired ELCA pastor. Their neighbors, a family of three, also escaped injury. Roth counts her blessings. "There could've been five people dead," she says. Floyd's toll in North Carolina reached at least 48.

In other ways, too, the Roths are luckier than others. The damage to their house can be repaired, and insurance will cover costs.

Thousands of other families, primarily in eastern North Carolina, were wiped out by floods so severe they are estimated to occur once in 500 years. Many homeowners were uninsured because the water rose far above flood plain levels.

Lutherans help

As with most disasters, Lutherans quickly mobilized with other faith groups to help. Members of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Greenville, N.C., prepared breakfasts for people at a nearby shelter. Christ the King Lutheran Church, Cary, N.C., raised $2,700 for assistance.

And Lutherans will provide longterm assistance through Lutheran Disaster Relief, a joint effort of the ELCA and the Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod.

After assistance has been distributed through such agencies as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross, "we will be there to close the gap," says Gil Furst, director of Lutheran Disaster Response. He envisions cash grants and crews of volunteers to help people clean up and rebuild.

"There isjust a wealth of Lutherans out there with construction skills that we need," says Charles Moeller, Lutheran Disaster Response consultant for North Carolina. He arranged housing, assembled tools and helped hire a staff member to coordinate work crews of expected volunteers.

Most of the members of Grace Lutheran Church, Washington, N.C., were affected in some way by the flood, says C. Lewis Murdock, pastor. Grace is sending those who were worst hit to relief programs it supports with other area churches.

"Most of the people being served are the ones living paycheck to paycheck," Murdock says.

North Carolina hammered

Floyd caused damaging floods from South Carolina to New Jersey (see map, page 52), but North Carolina bore the brunt. Three weeks after the floods, North Carolina tallied 9,091 primary homes (as opposed to vacation homes) with mild to moderate damage, 4,838 with major damage and 4,032 destroyed, says Tom Hegele, spokesman for North Carolina Emergency Management and a member of Christ the King. He expects the number to rise as floodwaters recede.

Floyd devastated eastern North Carolina's already-poor economy, with losses estimated at $600 million in crops and animals and $150 million in timber.

In sheer dollar-value damage, Floyd might be the state's worst natural disaster, topping Hurricane Fran's $6 billion in 1996. But Hegele put the statistics into context. "Those numbers don't tell you anything about the misery down there," he says.

Floyd's floods were heav

ily polluted from gas and oil, sewage, pesticides, millions of animal carcasses and waste from hog farm manure lagoons.

Foul floodwater stained the leaves of the trees around Princeville, N.C., making it easy to spot the high-water mark. Two weeks after Floyd, water still lingered in a neighborhood where rows of mobile homes were marked with a red "X" for condemnation. The ground was still spongy and the air was rank with the smell of mold, sewage and chemicals, and rotting vegetation.

Disaster response officials liken Floyd's aftereffects to the 1997 Red River flooding in the Upper Midwest. "[Both disasters] hit everyone," says Jim Skillington, executive director of the Disaster News Network, supported by faith-based organizations. "Both developed slowly and stayed around forever-and both are going to be South Carolina: Lutheran Social Services of the Carolinas is directing the Lutheran response in South Carolina as well as North Carolina. Christ the Servant Lutheran Church, Conway, served as a Red Cross center.

BahamaS: Homes of two members of Our Saviour Lutheran Church, Freeport, were flooded with 6 ft. of water. Church long-term disasters."

The two floods were caused by a conspiracy of weather. In the Carolinas, Hurricane Dennis struck in late August, dumping 10 inches of rain. The soil was already saturated and waterways swollen when Floyd arrived, bringing up to 20 more inches of rain in some spots, including Wilmington, N.C. Days of rain followed Floyd.

'Let it stop'

During Dennis, Doris and Joe Hofmann of Washington sat marooned on their bed with their cat and dog watching the water rise. Doris Hofmann dipped a yardstick into the water and watched it rise: 10 inches, 11 inchesup to 15 inches.