Title: Lutherans Hit by Tornadoes in Pennsylvania
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

June 12, 1998

LUTHERANS HIT BY TORNADOES IN PENNSYLVANIA
98-21-128-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- "Nature knows neither grace nor mercy," said the
Rev. Donald B. Green, Pittsburgh. "Sixteen tornadoes touched down in
southwestern Pennsylvania June 2 accompanied by strong winds, damaging
hail, heavy rains and flash flooding, two successive bands of violent
storms traversed the region." Green is an assistant to the bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod.
     The Rev. Karen R. Taylor, Mount Washington Lutheran Church,
Pittsburgh, has been surveying the damage where the storm hit, said Green.
"She opened the church for shelter for those whose homes were lost or
severely damaged. She will continue to coordinate relief efforts with me
for the area," he said.
     The ELCA's Domestic Disaster Response and Lutheran Disaster Response
have responded to 17 disasters in the last five months, according to the
Rev. Leon A. Phillips, director for Lutheran Disaster Response, a ministry
of the ELCA and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
     Lutherans have responded to tornadoes, floods and ice storms in
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Guam, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota,
New York, Pennsylvania and South Dakota. Phillips said major relief
efforts from 1997 disasters are still underway in Minnesota, North and
South Dakota.
     "What is so very different about this spring than any spring I can
recall is not so much the number of tornadoes, but heavy devastation and
violent destruction," said Phillips. "We find ourselves responding not to
the normal tornadoes of springtime, but to major disasters, even
catastrophes."
     "St. Peter, Minn., Kissimmee and Sanford, Fla., Birmingham, Ala., and
Spencer, S.D., are towns that have suffered widespread devastation. I
cannot recall a time when a tornado of such severity struck and damaged
block after block of a town," said Phillips.
     "The ELCA's Domestic Disaster Response and Lutheran Disaster Response
has expended well over $100,000 in emergency tornado response during these
past weeks," said Phillips. "We have no idea yet what the final cost will
be, or even what all the needs will be.... I am stunned by the relief work
that these major storms have left behind."

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html