To: [log in to unmask]
Dear friends in Christ,
Lutheran Disaster Response is responding to floods resulting from Tropical
Storm Allison this past weekend in the southeast Texas and southern
Louisiana. As many as 20,000 houses may be affected in both states. In
Texas, 28 counties along the coast have been impacted. Twenty parishes
have flooded in Louisiana.
The Houston area has been especially impacted. Houston Mayor Lee Brown
indicates that at least $1 billion in damage occurred in the city. At
least seventeen deaths have been verified, sixteen in the Houston area.
One person who drowned was a Lutheran. Many are still missing. Emergency
workers have rescued hundreds from atop stranded automobiles, housetops,
fences, and trees. The storm is a result of Tropical Storm Allison dumped
which more than 28 inches of rain on the area since last Tuesday, and
showers are forecast today.
Lutheran Social Services of the South (Mark Minick, disaster coordinator)
is managing the LDR response, along with the Texas District (Lutheran
Church Missouri Synod) and the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod
(Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). I will be travelling Wednesday
to meet with Lutheran and interfaith partners as the response strategy
develops. Bonnie Turner, LDR consultant from North Dakota, will join us.
Initial emergency funds will be distributed through the local Lutheran
churches to assist individuals affected by the high waters. Additional
meetings will be held to assess the situation and to organize interfaith
long-term responses.
You can help by sending contributions to
ELCA DOMESTIC Disaster Response - "Tropical Storm Allison"
PO Box 71764
Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764
Credit card gift line: 1-800-638-3522
Credit card gifts via the web: www.elca.org/disaster
LC-MS World Relief
P.O. Box 66861
St. Louis, MO 63166-9810
Credit card gift line: 1-888-930-4438
Please remember and keep in your prayers our brothers and sisters in Texas
and Louisiana whose lives have been affected by this first tropical storm
of the season.
In Christ,
Gil Furst
GILBERT B. FURST (written on Mon, Jun 11, 2001, at 2:13 pm). Director for
ELCA DOMESTIC DISASTER RESPONSE (Division for Church in Society) and
LUTHERAN DISASTER RESPONSE (a cooperative ministry of the ELCA and LC-MS)
8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago 60631 PHONE: 773-380-2822 FAX: 773-380-2493
Please visit our website: www.elca.org/dcs/disaster
