Lutherans clean up after Midwest storms

Lutheran, The, Aug 2004 by Main, Elaine, Gjere, Linda Janssen

May storms flood Immanuel Lutheran Church, Elkport, Iowa. The building may not be saved as flood-water-now receding-came within inches of the sanctuary ceiling.

The church building of Immanuel Lutheran, Elkport, Iowa, may be lost. Floodwaters from the Turkey and Volga rivers filled it to within inches of its ceiling in May.

Immanuel is just one of the casualties of storms in May. Tornadoes and hail struck Nebraska; flooding devastated areas of Iowa. Parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois also were affected. Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry of the ELCA and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, continues to organize recovery work.

Federal mitigation funds may make it possible to move Immanuel's building out of town, Pastor Tom Martin told the Des Moines [Iowa] Register, adding that an organ and original church records were destroyed. "It's tough enough to see your home go, but it's harder yet to look at an institution that has baptized, confirmed and married people for the last 100 years," he said.

And indeed, Martin does know what it's like to see "your home go." His family experienced 5 feet of flooding on the main floor of the parsonage. They temporarily moved to a vacant parsonage in nearby Garnavillo.

So much of Elkport was heavily damaged that meetings are being held to determine whether to move the town to higher ground. After May 1999 flooding, Elkport's sister parish, Hope Lutheran, Littleport, was similarly damaged and moved higher. Now Immanuel's services will be held at Hope, eight miles west.

"Already 152 families have registered for [federal] aid," said Ruth Hilgerson, correspondent for the Shepherd of the Hills Conference that includes Elkport and Littleport. "The flood took older homes where elderly people had lived for decades. Lots of memories and treasures are lost."

Cleanup in Nebraska

Volunteers continue to clear debris from farms, homes and communities in Nebraska after hail and tornadoes. Members of Omaha, Neb., Lutheran churches-Chris Kendall (Kountze Memorial) and Marcia and Jim Gilliam (Bethel)-volunteered to walk fields near Bennett. "On our drive to the field we passed several rural homes that had been completely destroyed by the storm," Kendall said. They pulled siding, lumber, patio furniture and tree branches from the fields.

The storms affected more than 12 congregations or Lutheran agencies, including: Good Shepherd Home, Blair; Immanuel, Hastings; St. Paul, Glenvil; First, Wilbur; First, Daykin; Grace and St. John, Ohiowa; Immanuel, Orum; Emmaus, Kennard; Trinity, Cordova; St. Paul, DeWitt; Shepherd of the Hills, Hickman; and Dana College, Blair.

Many congregations are helping themselves and others. About 85 members and neighbors of St. Paul, DeWitt, cleaned nearby farms. "When a house is totally destroyed, it has to go somewhere. The somewhere out here is a farmer's field," reported Neal Mather, pastor.

Gil Furst, recently retired LDR director, asked for both prayers and money following the storms. "The prayers of God's people are more powerful than these deadly storms and tornadoes," he said, adding that "contributions will enable the church to respond at once and make it possible to offer help and hope for the long haul."

To help:

ELCA Domestic Disaster Response, P.O. Box 71764 Chicago, IL 60694-1764; (800) 638-3522; www.elca.org/disaster).

The Lutheran's correspondents Elaine Main, Northeastern Iowa Synod, and Linda Janssen Gjere, Nebraska Synod, contributed to this report.