Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief is working to bring teams to Texas

Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief crews are preparing to leave Thursday morning (July 11) for Huffman, Texas to help clean up after Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas early yesterday (July 8).

As it moved inland, Beryl dumped massive amounts of rain and toppled trees, killing three people and leaving millions without power. On Monday night, it weakened from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm and later a tropical depression, but continued to shed tornadoes in its path.

Mark Wakefield, state disaster relief strategist, said the community of Huffman, northeast of Houston, has a lot of downed trees. Working to assemble chain saw crews to leave on Thursday. The administration and supply teams are already ready to go, he said.

“Our volunteer leaders – these people are top notch because they are ready to mobilize volunteers,” he said. “Our people love to help.”

“stretched thin”

Wakefield said disaster relief leaders in Texas told him teams “west of the Mississippi” were stretched out helping with wildfires and flash floods in New Mexico in addition to Beryl assistance.

Several disaster relief teams from the Texas Southern Baptist Convention have already deployed to help their fellow Texans. The Texans on the mission were also working, Wakefield said.

Send Relief is also assessing aid needs in the Caribbean, where Beryl made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane late last week, as well as Mexico, where it struck after weakening before moving into Texas.

For more information on how you can help Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief as they reach out to those affected by Hurricane Beryl, visit sbdr.org.