TBM helps flood victims in El Paso, Colorado

From El Paso to Colorado, Texas Baptist Men responded to flood victims by providing shovels, showers, meals and spiritual counsel.

Mud-out teams from University Baptist Church in Houston and Oak Ridge Baptist Church in Portland began work Sept. 19 in Socorro, an El Paso County town of 30,000 that borders Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, across the Rio Grande.

The American Red Cross identified 180 buildings—including 120 single-family homes—affected by flooding in Socorro. TBM teams are helping with mud-out and other aid.Socorro experienced steady rain for two weeks, and the American Red Cross identified 180 buildings—including 120 single-family homes—affected by flooding, said Ralph Rogers, TBM disaster relief volunteer from Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo and director of the incident management team.

TBM volunteers went door-to-door through affected areas Sept. 18 assessing needs and distributing fliers to tell residents about available clean-up crews.

“We went to about 50 houses,” Rogers said. “They varied from a little bit of water to some with two to three feet of water. The worst ones were filled with sand.”

By the next morning, 14 mud-out volunteers began labor on the first seven work orders, and Rogers expected the number of jobs to increase as residents learned about the service and as access to some isolated areas improved.

Washed out roads

“There are some houses you can’t even get to yet,” Rogers added. “Some of the roads are washed out, and some are covered with sand.”

Mud-out crews shoveled sand, removed and replaced damaged drywall, power-washed walls and then sanitized and disinfected homes.

Chaplains accompanied the mud-out and assessment crews to provide spiritual counsel for distraught residents and tired volunteers, Rogers noted. Texas Baptists in Kerrville made a mobile shower unit accessible. Volunteers from the El Paso area provided meals for workers, serving from the kitchen at First Baptist Church in Fabens.

Another team in Colorado

While volunteers continued what could be up to three weeks of disaster relief in the El Paso, another team responded to a request in Colorado, where floods in 17 counties claimed at least eight lives and caused a projected $2 billion in property losses.

TBM will coordinate recovery operations from Loveland, Colo., and provide shower units, mud-out crews and chaplains.

TBM disaster relief relies entirely on donations. To give, click here or send a check designated “disaster relief” to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron, Dallas 75227.