June 18, 2001
SOME UBA office furniture was swept outside by the floods. (Photos by Karen Simons)
Association's office totaled
___HOUSTON--Up to five feet of floodwater filled the offices of Union Baptist Association on Friday night, June 8, destroying the furnishings and contents.
___"It was totally destroyed," said Rick Ogden, resource development officer for the association. "Interior walls were demolished. All the furniture and all the records were lost."
___A sewer outside the association's offices backed up during the storm. The water flowoutside the offices became so great that it broke all the windows in the complex, and water came flooding into the building. The water level inside the building crested at 5 feet. Damage to the contents is estimated at about $250,000. The space was leased.
FLOOD WATER crested at five feet in UBA's office. All the contents of the offices were declared a loss, at a value of $250,000. The office building was leased.
___Ogden noted that the floodwaters rushed through the leased office space with such force that they hurled a 250-pound credenza through a plate glass window into a ravine below.
___A report from Executive Director Tom Billings on the association's website said: "The office has been declared a total disaster. Virtually everything inside was destroyed. Our offices will need to be relocated. We will need to secure new office furniture, computers, copiers, printers, fax machines, a phone system and supplies."
___Billings went on to say to the area churches: "The heart and soul of UBA is not in an office complex. It is in the nearly 500 congregations all across the city. It is in the consulting and support staff that serves you. While our offices are gone, our vision remains strong."
___Volunteers with the Union Association Woman's Missionary Union and with Mission Houston--a ministry guided by former associational Director of Missions Jim Harrington--helped the staff reclaim the few personal belongings remaining in the offices June 11.
___Within two weeks, the associational staff anticipates moving into new office space at 2040 North Loop West, Suite 300.
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