ELCA NEWS SERVICE
July 12, 2005
Lutheran Disaster Coordinators Assess Hurricane Damage In Florida
05-128-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Early reports from Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR)
coordinators in northwest Florida and coastal Alabama indicate that most
residents and their property got through Hurricane Dennis "fairly
unscathed with some minor damage," said Heather L. Feltman, director,
Lutheran Disaster Response and ELCA Domestic Disaster Response.
The storm damage was not nearly as great as when Hurricane Ivan hit
the area 10 months ago, she said. That storm caused the deaths of 29
people in the Florida Panhandle and caused some $7 billion in property
damage across the South.
Hurricane Dennis, with winds of 120 miles per hour, came ashore July
10. "LDR coordinators have been out looking at how we might assist
communities that have been 're-impacted,'" Feltman said. In some areas
there is significant flooding and many residents in the region will be
without electrical power for several days, she said.
LDR is beginning the process of coordinating volunteers to help the
affected communities recover, she said. Volunteers are needed to help
remove debris and protect homes. Specifically, volunteers must be able to
operate chain saws, and others are needed to get on rooftops and cover
them with tarps, Feltman said.
Meanwhile, LDR coordinators will continue to work with synod bishops
and district presidents to assess needs in the wake of the storm. Feltman
said she is traveling to the area this week.
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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
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
