Churches weather Bonnie's wrath with mostly minor damages
8/31/1998 by United Methodist News Service Hurricane Bonnie did less damage than expected on the East Coast, but United Methodists in the affected areas are attending to very real needs resulting from the storm.
Parts of North Carolina took the brunt of the storm, but authorities there were generally expressing relief that Hurricane Bonnie did far less damage than Hurricanes Fran and Bertha did to the same areas in 1996. However, parts of the state received up to 14 inches of rain and the 115-mph winds downed trees and power lines, leaving more than 1 million people without electricity.
Access to parts of coastal Virginia and North Carolina was hampered by downed trees and flooding, so assessment was still going on in some communities on Aug. 31, five days after Hurricane Bonnie first came ashore at Cape Fear near Wilmington, N.C.
Pilmoor Memorial United Methodist Church in Currituck, N.C., a coastal town near the Virginia border, lost its electricity. The situation was made more serious by the presence of two large freezers full of food belonging to the church's community pantry. The conference quickly authorized purchase of a generator, and the food was saved.
Roofs and steeples on North Carolina churches took a beating. The Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church in Southport lost its steeple to the winds. Roof damage to the First United Methodist Church in Morehead City allowed water into the church, destroying the sound system and damaging carpet and other materials.
After spending some of its strength over North Carolina and being downgraded to a tropical storm, Bonnie picked up steam to wallop Virginia's Tidewater area with more force than expected. The storm struck that area overnight Aug. 26-27. Preliminary reports indicated minor damage to steeples and roofs. A tree fell on the parsonage of the Good Hope United Methodist Church in Chesapeake, but no one was hurt. Other parsonages in the Peninsula and Norfolk districts lost shingles or had water damage.
Because the storm was nearly 400 miles across, South Carolina felt some of the initial impact.
"We were spared any real damage from the hurricane," said the Rev. Charles Johnson, executive director of the South Carolina Annual (regional) Conference's council on ministries. Wind damage and power outages were the main effects in the state. Little River (S.C.) United Methodist Church lost much of its roof.
Officials in the North Carolina Annual (regional) Conference have made an initial request to United Methodist Committee for Relief (UMCOR) for $10,000. South Carolina disaster response workers do not expect to need a grant from outside the conference, and Virginia is still assessing its need.
Two UMCOR representatives were at work in North Carolina even before Hurricane Bonnie hit:
Bob Blair of Woodstock, Va., a UMCOR disaster volunteer, and the Rev. Fred Toland of Theodore, Ala., a UMCOR disaster field consultant. Volunteer teams are at work with chain saws and other clean up materials, but more will be needed. Volunteers are being coordinated through the UMCOR volunteer hotline, (800) 918-3100.
United Methodists may make donations to UMCOR Disaster Response No. 982515-0, earmarked "Hurricanes '98." Checks may be placed in the offering plate or mailed to 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 330, New York, NY 10115. Donations of cleaning and building supplies are being coordinated by personnel at the UMCOR depot, (800) 814-8765.
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*William Norton, North Carolina Conference communicator, supplied the North Carolina information for this story.
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