Safe Harbor: Pacific Northwest Flooding

On Tuesday evening our assessment team was able to get into the town of Vernonia, OR on the Nehalim River. Vernonia was one of the hardest hit communities in Oregon with both strong winds and massive flooding. Much of the town and surrounding fields and farms were under as much as 5 feet of water. It also took over a day for emergency crews to reach the town after the storm passed as every highway had been blocked with downed trees, power lines, mud and land slides, as well as erosion from flowing water. As the Lord led the assessment team they were able to make contacts with county emergency officials, the local grocery store owner (who’s a Christian), and county health service administrators who work with the elderly and shut-ins.

On Wednesday a Response Team headed by Randy Foster was deployed to Vernonia, taking with them a cook/work trailer with enough food to give a hot meal for 400 people including local citizens, first responders, and National Guard Troops. They were able to deploy in the parking lot of the local grocery store. They will also be serving a pancake breakfast, and lots of water. This team will be reinforced by other volunteers from regional churches for at least the next week. Because of the extensive damage, the Responders will be doing anything from cooking and delivering hot meals, helping remove wet drywall and muck from homes, to helping the county health administrators check up on the elderly and shut-ins.

Please pray that the love of Christ will be evident to all through everything that our Responders do and say.

In Christ’s Service,

Daniel Gettemy

Safe Harbor International Western Regional Coordinator

HT: Safe Harbor Blog