ELCA NEWS SERVICE

August 24, 2007  

Lutheran Disaster Response Responding to Upper Midwest Flooding
07-147-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR) staff, in
partnership with Lutheran leaders and social ministry
organizations in southeastern Minnesota and in the area near La
Crosse, Wis., has begun its work to assist people affected by
severe flooding there.  A series of severe storms that dumped
more than a foot of rain in the region caused rivers to overflow.
The storms, remnants of Tropical Storm Erin, are responsible for
at least 26 deaths across several states.
     Severe flooding also occurred this week in northwest Ohio,
particularly in Findlay.  LDR assessments there have not yet been
completed, said the Rev. Kevin A. Massey, assistant director,
ELCA Domestic Disaster Response.
     LDR is a collaborative ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
     In response to the storms, LDR has fielded a number of
inquiries from people wanting to volunteer to assist in helping
people with cleanup efforts, Massey said.  Only now are some
communities beginning to emerge from the emergency phase of the
disaster, he said, and some communities remain closed to the
general public.
     "Mechanisms for coordinating the volunteers will be soon
coming," Massey said. "Our disaster response coordinators in
Minnesota and Wisconsin are now making preparations to coordinate
volunteers to help with the removal of debris (and) to help clean
out flooded homes.  However, at this moment we're not able to
manage influx of volunteers until we make these preparations."
     He asked volunteers to monitor information on the LDR Web
site at http://www.ldr.org and the ELCA Domestic Disaster
Response at http://www.ELCA.org/disaster/ on the ELCA Web site,
about how and when to volunteer.
     Massey traveled Aug. 22 and Aug. 23 to the ELCA Southeastern
Minnesota Synod and the ELCA LaCrosse Area Synod to begin
discussions with bishops, area clergy and disaster relief
partners, including local social ministry organizations.
     In the Southeastern Minnesota Synod, Massey said LDR is
concentrating its response efforts in the synod in Houston,
Rushford and Winona. Especially hard hit was Rushford Lutheran
Church, where the basement was flooded with sewage.  There was
also flooding in the parsonage.  In a message to the synod, the
Rev. Harold L. Usgaard, bishop of the Southeastern Minnesota
Synod, said a decision was made to cleanup Rushford Lutheran
Church immediately, and a professional cleaning firm will be
called in.
     "The town is still very much closed off, and the town was
significantly affected," Massey said of Rushford.  "The main
street of the town was completely flooded as was a majority of
the homes present."
     Rushford and Houston-area pastors will continue to offer
pastoral counseling and assistance to people affected by the
floods,Usgaard said. An interfaith organization is being formed
to assist in response, he added.
     Usgaard reported that several other congregations suffered
some water damage.  Some members reportedly lost homes, and other
congregations in the synod were cut off because roads and bridges
were washed out, his message said.
     Massey also met with the Rev. April Ulring Larson, ELCA La
Crosse Area Synod bishop, area clergy and local disaster relief
partners in the synod.  LDR is concentrating its efforts in Gays
Mills and Soldiers Grove, Massey said.
     Among the most seriously damaged churches was Luther
Memorial Lutheran Church, Gays Mills, which was flooded.  A wall
collapsed in the parsonage basement, the synod reported. Several
other congregations in the area suffered some kind of flood
damage or were cut off because bridges and roads were washed out.
Some members' homes were damaged, the synod reported.
     LDR will coordinate its response through Lutheran Social
Services of Minnesota and Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin
and Upper Michigan Inc., Massey said.  LDR provides hardship
grants, volunteer coordination services, spiritual and emotional
care, and case management services.
---
     Audio comments from the Rev. Kevin Massey are at:
http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/070824a.mp3
http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/070824b.mp3

     Information about flood response efforts in the  ELCA
Southeastern Minnesota Synod is at http://www.semnsynod.org/ on
the Web; information about flood response in the ELCA La Crosse
Area Synod at http://www.lacrosseareasynod.org/ on the Web.

DOMESTIC DISASTERS:

Editors: When listing organizations receiving funds to aid
survivors of major disasters inside the United States, Puerto
Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:
     ELCA Domestic Disaster Response, P.O. Box 71764, Chicago,
Illinois 60694-1764
Credit card gift line: 1-800-638-3522
Credit card gifts via Internet: http://www.ELCA.org/disaster/










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