Recent winter storms have crippled the states of Kentucky and Tennesee. Our UMVIM coordinators in those states have gathered reports of the areas. Below is that report. If you wish to assist those in this area, please call the volunteer coordinators for the Kentucky and Tennessee conferences. Please do not enter the storm area until you are approved to do so.
The Kentucky Conference, especially the western section of the state, was heavily inundated with ice, and many are still without power. Trees and branches are everywhere, power lines are down, and the area is in desperate need of help. Early Response Teams, especially those with chainsaw training, are needed immediately. Other needs include: supporting feeding ministries, certified electricians, basic clean up. Some housing is available. For more information, contact Larry Bush at revdoc@hesenergy.net or 270-498-0887
A report from the Memphis Conference:
1. This Sunday, the Paris and Dyersburg Districts will be asking for offerings for the Area Disaster Response Teams. Then offerings on following Sundays would be directed toward "Memphis Conference Disaster Response."
2. Three command centers will be set up immediately: one in the Dyersburg District office, one in the Paris District office, and one at Broadway UMC in the Paducah District.
3. Each center has an 800 number for those people requesting help clearing trees and branches and for those volunteering to help with the recovery effort.
4. The Connectional Ministries office will be paying the salaries of the three persons manning those phones beginning on Wednesday, February 4. The phones will be answered 8 hours a day, Monday through Saturday. Brenda Kerns will train the command center personnel on Tuesday at Martin, Tenn.'s First United Methodist Church.
5. Elyse Bell of the Paris District will serve as the internal communications director. Those manning the phones will send all their requests to Mrs. Bell who will communicate the information to Bill Carr, the Conference Disaster Recovery Director. Elyse will work out of the Paris District office.
6. Both the Paris and Dyersburg District Superintendents will have people assessing immediate needs in their areas over the weekend.
7. Bill Carr is working with the Area 4 Team in the Paducah District and will be assigning teams to other areas.
8. Area 3 Team will stage on Wednesday morning at 8 AM at Hazel United Methodist Church to begin work in the Paris District-primarily in Calloway County, Kentucky where the damage is most severe in the Paris District. The Rev. Allan Trull, pastor of Hazel, will rally his congregation to prepare a supper Wednesday night for the volunteers.
9. Offering to host volunteer disaster recovery teams are Reelfoot Rural Ministries (for teams working in Lake, Obion, Dyer and Weakley Counties in Tennessee and Fulton County, Ky.) and Broadway United Methodist Church (for teams working in McCracken, Ballard, Graves, Carlisle, Marshall and Hickman Counties in Kentucky). Both locations have showers and spaces for volunteers to sleep. Teams working in the Paris District will be sent to locations in Henry County, Tennessee and Calloway County, Kentucky.
10. Most areas are still closed to volunteers. Too many power lines are down so county and city officials have asked volunteers to wait until they can secure their safety.
11. 800 numbers have already been obtained for the Paris District and the Dyersburg District, but they will not be manned until Wednesday. The numbers are: Dyersburg District 1-888-850-1986 Paris District 1-866-966-7161 The Paducah District number will be established as soon as David Comperry is able to contact AT &T.
12. Five generators were delivered to Bill Carr in the Paducah District by Area
3 team members Terry Cuff, Jerry Dinwiddie and Chuck Jones. Carr placed three of the generators with people on respirators.
13. Michael Blake, director of Reelfoot Rural Ministries, took food from the agency's food bank to Cunningham United Methodist Church. The small church, 6 members, is housing and feeding 13 people from the homeless shelter in Tiptonville.
14. Residents of the Wesley communities in Murray, Ky. and in Lake County, Tenn. were evacuated after the ice storm. Fifteen residents from Lake County's Wesley Apartments were housed at the Red Cross Shelter in Dyersburg's First United Methodist Church. Three were sent to Canterbury Place Assisted Living. From Murray, 13 residents were moved to the Paris community. As of this writing, all Lake County residents are back at Wesley Apartments. Selena Henson said the Golden Cross offering will provide all residents with a $25 food card to cover the cost of replacing the basics of bread, milk, eggs, mayo, meat and vegetables. (75 apartments x $25 =$1,875)
15. The parsonage and church in Tiptonville were damaged by the ice storm. Pastor Marita Burkeen said a branch came through the ceiling of the parsonage kitchen and the roof of the chapel is leaking with insulation and ceiling tiles on the floor.
Contact: Cathy Farmer
Communications Director
Memphis Conference/United Methodist Church
Cell: 731-234-0520
Email: catfarmer@memphis-umc.org
Subject: Recovery in Western Kentucky expected to extend through late summer: United Methodist volunteers working in every county.
By Cathy Farmer
The need is great for volunteers to help with recovery from the ice storm that devastated Western Kentucky and northwest Tennessee, said Bill Carr, Memphis Conference coordinator of disaster response. “And coordination of those volunteers is essential.”
Needed immediately are specialized heavy equipment early response teams (ERT), United Methodist Volunteer in Mission teams able to move brush and downed limbs to the roadside, and Stephen Ministers who can listen to the stories of storm victims. United Methodist organizers of the recovery effort hope to recruit volunteers from all across the Southeast. “We have hundreds working now and will need hundreds more,” Carr said.
Beginning Monday, February 16, all requests for aid and all offers to volunteer through the United Methodist Church will be routed through one toll free number, 877-552-7337. All other numbers will be phased out of operation by Friday, February 13.
Additionally, Carr is challenging every United Methodist Church in Western Kentucky to sponsor Saturday Clean-Up Days on February 14, February 21 and February 28.
“We hope that the volunteers from the congregations will clean up properties within one mile of their church,” Carr said. There are more than 80 churches in the Paducah District of the Memphis Conference (which includes churches in West Tennessee and Western Kentucky). The Paducah District covers McCracken, Ballard, Graves, Carlisle, Marshall and Hickman Counties. “And we pray that West Tennessee churches will support the effort.”
Brad Colson, a member of First United Methodist Church in Benton, Ky., is organizing a Youth Clean Up Day on February 21 for the Benton area.. Churches are urged to make plans to bring their youth groups to help clean debris. They will meet at the church, 845 US Highway 641 South, at 8:00 AM. All youth will need to bring Missioner Profile and Release forms signed by a parent or guardian. Copies of the forms can be obtained at Benton First UMC or you can request that copies of the forms are faxed to you. For more information, please contact Jaime Brooks, Director of Youth Ministry at Benton First. Her email address is the_brooks@newwavecomm.net. Phone: (270) 527-3990.
Brooks says any adult help will also be gladly accepted: “The group will not be using heavy equipment, so all you need is a pair of gloves, a positive attitude, and the correct forms signed.”
“It looks as if we’ll still be clearing debris until late summer,” Carr said. Many homes are without power, water or telephone service. The Red Cross shelter in Clinton, Ky. is still in operation with some estimating it will take “a forest” of poles to restore power to Hickman County alone. Carlisle County and Graves County are still operating in emergency response phase, trying to restore basic services. In McCracken County, over 1800 are still without power. In Ballard and Marshall County, many are without power but the roads have been reopened.
Dyersburg District
The 14 residents of Tiptonville's River's Home for the Homeless finally found shelter at tiny Cunningham United Methodist Church just outside Ridgely, Tenn. Sheila Morton, director of the shelter, said the six-member church was the only one willing to open their doors to the eleven men and one woman living at River's Home.
"After the (electric) pole broke outside River's Home, we were freezing and we didn't have anything to eat," said Mrs. Morton. "We want to thank these wonderful people for taking us in. No one else would open up for us."
Jamie Anne Stover, a member of the Cunningham congregation, said they turned on the church's gas stoves to get the building heated and started cooking breakfast for the refugees from the ice storm.
"Some of them are over at my mother's taking showers right now," said Jamie Anne. "My mother, Wilma Stover, who is 79 years old, spent the first night here at the church with them, and she emptied her house out so they would have food to eat."
Ms. Stover said the men from the shelter have been "real helpful with the vacuuming and cleaning up after themselves."
"We're just blessed we could do this for them," she said. Chuckling, she added, "We called Brother John (the Rev. John Holcomb) to let him know, too. We said, 'God's church at Cunningham is hosting the homeless!'"
Fortunately for Cunningham and other churches near Reelfoot Rural Ministries, the Memphis Conference agency that, among other things, maintains a food bank for the needy in northwest Tennessee, the loss of power meant the frozen food in the agency's big walk-in freezers needed to be handed out right away.
The Rev. Michael Blake, RRM's director, packed up everything that was going to spoil and took it to nearby churches to cook. The Cunningham congregation made plans to fix a big bacon, sausage, eggs and biscuit breakfast for their guests.
Power has now returned to cool the freezers at RRM courtesy of Herman Smith and Harry Henderson. The two men from Martin, Tenn.'s First United Methodist Church gathered up some generators and hauled them to the ridge-top ministry. Reelfoot will soon be ready to host the Memphis Conference disaster response teams working in the area. Blake said he will reserve the dorm for those who need to stay overnight.
Just up the road, the parsonage and the chapel at Tiptonville United Methodist Church were damaged by the ice storm. A tree fell on the parsonage roof, landing a branch in the kitchen near the sink. The Rev. Marita Burkeen said her husband Wayne was standing on a step-stool holding the branch while church members sawed the biggest part of the tree away. Tiles in the flat-roofed chapel were soaked and leaking. Some landed on the floor.
"It was really frightening," said Rev. Burkeen. "We could hear the branches hitting the house." She added that every family in the church has trees down, and some have damage to their homes.
Lynne Ayers, an active member of the congregation, emailed that her yard and street look disastrous. "I had one large limb come through a front living room window," she wrote. "Fortunately I was able to get a piece of plywood nailed up."
Burkeen and Ayers plan to open the church kitchen now that the power is back on so they can feed the community and workers.
Teams of cookers started setting up their grills in the Tiptonville church parking lot on Sunday, February 1. Organized by Herman Smith, they plan to keep cooking as long as people need them to be there.
The Rev. Stan Waldon, Dyersburg District Superintendent, emailed: "We fed 250 people at Tiptonville First on Sunday afternoon. Herman Smith from Martin First brought his cooker and some helpers. They worked hard all afternoon. It was a rewarding experience. People were very appreciative. Those who volunteered were blessed."
Waldon added that they were able to provide food for 250 people. "The amazing thing is that we fed that number for only $70. Most of what we cooked was donated to us. And we have some supplies left to help feed disaster response team members this week. God is so good and amazing. People do rise to the occasion."
The Area I Disaster Response team from Memphis is organizing to work in the Tiptonville area this week. Since power is now back on at Reelfoot, they'll be staying in the dorm. Waldon said he expected them to arrive Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.
Paducah District
In Paducah, Ky., on Thursday, January 29, Dr. David Comperry, senior pastor of Broadway United Methodist Church, said that of the 22,500 homes in the town, 21,000 were without power. "I think the damage is comparable to the 100-mph straight line winds ('Hurricane Elvis') that hit Memphis a few years ago," he said.
The loss of communications is hampering recovery, according to Comperry, and gas can't be pumped out of the ground without electricity so Kentuckians are driving south to Tennessee to fill their cars and find gas for their generators. Stores in Martin and Puryear, Tenn. have long lines of Kentuckians waiting to buy gas and kerosene for space heaters.
"I waited in line over an hour and a half at one station just to gas up my car," Comperry said, noting that everyone is paying with cash because credit cards don't work without electricity. "And it will be awhile before we get electricity back," he added. "In my neighborhood alone, I saw five transformers on the ground!"
The Rev. Paul Mullikin, pastor of Paducah's Arcadia UMC, said trees were down everywhere. "One of the estimates we were offered to clean up the trees around the parsonage alone was $2,000!"
While the main roads have been cleared, many neighborhoods are still blocked. Bill Carr, the Memphis Conference Disaster Response Coordinator, put his own chainsaw to work clearing streets and driveways within a five mile radius of his home in Reidland, Ky.
"Some of the Tennessee boys on the Area 3 Disaster Response Team (Jerry Dinwiddie, Chuck Jones and Terry Cuff) showed up with five generators," Carr said. "I put them to use right away." Three people dependent on respirators to breathe desperately needed power to keep their machines operating.
"I've been getting up at 1 AM to go refuel the generators," Carr said, "and, boy, it's hard to put on my boots and go out in the cold after a long day of cutting trees. But when I get to their houses and see those people lying there in their hospital beds, I just thank God that we've been able to help."
Explaining why he was responsible for refueling the generators, Carr said, "The people are elderly. You've got a 90-year-old trying to take care of someone 93.
Paducah District Superintendent Rick Dye emailed that the entire Jackson Purchase "is a major disaster area." He said there was no way, as yet, for him to get reports about church damages. "Some areas may be without power for two or three weeks... Utility workers are beginning to arrive. There is plenty of food and fuel but there are some distribution issues. Primary roads are passable, but rural roads are not," he said.
Dye and his wife Vicki have been sleeping in front of their fireplace to keep warm and learning to cook over an open flame.
Wesley Senior communities had to be evacuated.
Residents of Wesley senior communities in Lake County, Tenn. and in Murray, Ky. had to be evacuated when their residences lost power .
Selena Henson, director of the Wesley Senior Ministries Foundation, said 15 residents from Lake County's Wesley Apartments were housed in the Red Cross Shelter at Dyersburg, Tenn.'s First United Methodist Church. At one time, the shelter was housing as many as 73 people from the area.
Three of the Lake County residents were evacuated to Canterbury Place Assisted Living in Dyersburg.
Power was restored to the Wesley Apartments over the weekend, so all have been moved back.
"Thirteen residents from Murray were moved to our Paris community," Henson said. "They are being housed in the community room with cots provided by the Henry County Emergency Management Agency. Paris District Superintendent Joe Geary, Elyse Bell, Rob Martin and the staff and volunteers from Paris First UMC were very helpful as we organized the move. The entire community in Paris is being supportive. They're helping, along with financial assistance from the Wesley Senior Ministries Foundation, to provide three daily meals and snacks."
Henson said that the real need will come as the residents return to their apartments. "We're making plans to replenish perishable items when utilities are restored. Everything in 75 refrigerators and freezers will be lost. We plan to give every resident a minimum $25 food card to cover the cost of replacing the basics of bread, milk, eggs, mayo, meat, vegetables, etc. The money will come from the Golden Cross Offering.
Henson added that local grocers Kroger in Murray and Foodrite in Tiptonville "have been wonderful" in working with her to replace needed food.
Plans for recovery
On Friday, January 30, Paris District Superintendent Joe Geary and Dyersburg District Superintendent Stan Waldon met in Dyersburg with the Rev. Kevin Conrad, Connectional Ministries Director, and David Reed, Communications Action Team leader, and Cathy Farmer, Memphis Conference Communications Director, to plan recovery efforts.
As of this writing, the plans include:
1. On Sunday, February 1, the Paris and Dyersburg Districts asked for offerings for the Area Disaster Response Teams. On the following Sundays, the offerings will be directed toward "Memphis Conference Disaster Response."
The Rev. Geary emailed later, "I have asked all Paris District Churches to receive a special offering on this Sunday and the following Sunday for the Area III Disaster Response team. These monies will come to the Paris District Office and not the Conference Office. We will dispense for mileage, gasoline, equipment, repairs, whatever the leadership of the team tells me they need. Similar offerings are to be taken for the Dyersburg and Paducah Districts for the same purposes per the coordinated meeting yesterday in Dyersburg."
2. Three communication centers are being set up immediately: one in the Dyersburg District office, one in the Paris District office, and one at Broadway UMC in the Paducah District. The Connectional Ministries office will pay the salaries of the three persons who will man the phone at each site. Brenda Kerns will train the communications center personnel on Tuesday at 1:30 PM at Martin First.
3. Each center has an 800 number for those people requesting help clearing trees and branches and for those volunteering to help with the recovery effort. The 800 numbers have already been obtained for the Paris and the Dyersburg Districts, but they will not be answered until Wednesday, February 4. The numbers are:
· Dyersburg District 888-850-1986
· Paris District 866-966-7161
The Paducah District number will be established as soon as Dr. David Comperry, senior pastor of Broadway UMC in Paducah, is able to contact AT&T.
Geary said, "We have hired Joann Riggins for the Paris District Communications Center. She will be trained Tuesday, Feb. 3, and begin work Wednesday morning, Feb. 4, to answer the toll free number for people calling from Calloway and Henry Counties (only) for assistance. That number will go into effect Wednesday at 8:00 A.M. It will be manned from 8 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, Wednesday through Saturday the first week, and then Monday through Saturday in following weeks for as long as it takes. The operator will work out of the district office in Paris."
Waldon emailed: "Mrs. Susan Dieth will staff the Dyersburg District Communications Center. Susan is out of the East Dyersburg Church."
4. Elyse Bell of the Paris District will serve as the internal communications director for the communications centers. The persons manning the phones will send all requests to Mrs. Bell who will communicate the information to Bill Carr, the Conference Disaster Recovery Director. Carr will coordinate the deployment of all teams and volunteers.
5. Local pastors are being asked to assess immediate needs so Disaster Response will know where to deploy teams and volunteers.
6. Area 3 Disaster Response Team will stage on Wednesday morning, Feb. 4, 8 AM, in the parking lot of Hazel United Methodist Church to begin work in the Paris District. Geary said the crews will begin work in northern Henry County and southern Calloway County and then work north into all parts of Calloway County on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The Rev. Allan Trull, pastor of Hazel, will rally his congregation to prepare a light breakfast, sack lunches, and a supper Wednesday night for the volunteers. "We'll fix food for them as long as they need to be here," Trull said.
Geary said that Mrs. Beverlyann Jetton of South Pleasant Grove UMC will coordinate the refreshments at Hazel in the mornings and then have the lunch bags available on successive days. Bottled water is also being provided for volunteers.
The forms for homeowners that give permission for volunteers to work on private property have been emailed to pastors in Calloway and Henry Counties. "We hope to have them all filled out before the teams arrive," Geary said.
7. Offering to host volunteer disaster recovery teams are Reelfoot Rural Ministries (for teams working in Lake, Obion, Dyer and Weakley Counties in Tennessee and Fulton County, Ky.) and Broadway United Methodist Church (for teams working in McCracken, Ballard, Graves, Carlisle, Marshall and Hickman Counties in Kentucky). Both locations have showers and spaces for volunteers to sleep.
Teams working in the Paris District will be sent to locations in Henry County, Tennessee and Calloway County, Kentucky.
8. In Kentucky, Wayne Workman of Mt. Carmel UMC, Brad Colson of Benton First UMC, and Allen Burnett of Lone Oak UMC have started working on debris removal for at-risk and elderly people across Marshall County.
Steve Elder reports on damage from ice storm in Fulton County
As of Feb. 2, I understand that all the power is restored to the city of Fulton, by Fulton, Light Gas and Water and that part of the city of Hickman, the county seat of Fulton County, Ky. has had power restored by
Hickman Electric. However 100% of the county residences are still without power one week after the ice storm.
Hickman-Fulton Counties Rural Electric Co-op says it could be weeks (as many as 4 weeks) before power is restored to everyone. They have in excess of 1500 poles down. I counted 21 down in a 7 mile stretch. (This doesn't include the lack of phone service) The Fulton County High School in Hickman is being used to provide 3 hot meals a day and cots have been set up on the gym floor for National Guard and out of town utility workers. A number of churches have opened their facilities including Hickman UMC and Fulton First UMC.
The Fulton County Rescue Squad has been delivering water and sandwiches provided by FEMA. Beginning today, National Guard troops are going door to door checking on residents. They have begun helping with law enforcement, especially after the rash of generators being stolen.
The rural community pulls together. I can only speak for the area between Crutchfield and Casey, but farmers are out with their tractors and blades clearing state and county roads; as well as others with chain saws, trucks, etc. Those unable to run chain saws were checking on neighbors. It was 5 days in my area before we saw anyone from county or state governments.
We will survive and be stronger. I was blessed to have a fireplace and a 4 stack ventless gas heater and lost very little food before purchasing a gas generator in Jackson, TN, and having it installed on Saturday. All my neighbors are in good shape too
One individual said, "We haven't finished cleaning up from Hurricane Ike yet!" Actually, it's hard to tell the difference now.
Rev. Steve Elder
