DES MOINES, Iowa (BP)–Iowa continues to reel from an onslaught of destructive weather as rains again drenched the state Wednesday causing widespread flooding, and another tornado hit adding death to the destruction, killing four scouts and injuring 48 others at a Boy Scout camp outside Little Sioux.
The Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts of America issued a statement Thursday morning that read, “The life-changing events at Little Sioux last night cause us to reflect on how precious life is and we can strive to teach and protect our children, but bad things still happen.”
Scouting leaders planned to hold a candlelight prayer vigil at their Dunham Center, in Omaha, Nebraska, Thursday night at 7 PM to remember the four boys who were killed: Josh Fennen, 13; Sam Thomsen, 13; Ben Petrzilka, 14 and Aaron Ellerts, 14. Fennen, Thomsen and Petrzilka were all from Omaha Nebraska. Ellerts was from Eagle Grove, Iowa.
Iowa governor, Chet Culver, toured the tornado site on Thursday morning with Michal Chertoff, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, DC. Culver said the scout camp scene was “horrific.”
“The devastation was massive throughout the campground” Culver said on NBC’s Today Show Thursday morning.
Teenagers participating in the North American Mission Board’s World Changers mission event in Sioux City, Iowa, about 50 miles north of Little Sioux, reported being frightened by the storm sirens as they took the afternoon off for relaxation from the work projects they have been completing across the Siouxland metro areas of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. Many of the students were at a Sioux City mall when the storms came through the area. Jessica Brown, of Ankeny, Iowa, told her mother she was nearly hit by a piece of wood blown from a rooftop as storms rolled through the area that afternoon. Northwest Iowa Baptist Association officials reported the World Changer students are safe and are expected to complete their mission projects on schedule by Saturday.
Across Iowa storms are dumping unprecedented rainfall into already swollen rivers and the saturated ground. Lakes are at capacity and threatening to overtop dams in several locations including the Des Moines area Saylorville Lake.
Rivers are flooding low lying areas in Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Waterloo and Des Moines. In downtown Des Moines, the waters were closing streets, buildings and threatening the city’s water system. Suburban Dallas Center, west of Des Moines has shut down their well-water system and administrators are asking people to rely on bottled water for the next few days until a switch to a rural water system can be completed.
In Mason City, the municipal water system is shut down, but emergency officials reported late Thursday it may be able to resume operations on Friday.
Authorities are calling the flooding almost as bad as the record 500-year flood of 1993. The Des Moines Register reported the water levels are expected to match or exceed the ’93 levels this weekend. Overnight another 2-3 inches of rain fell in northern Iowa in the Des Moines River watershed and is expected to cause a surge downstream in Des Moines, Ottumwa and areas further south.
Iowa Southern Baptist disaster relief workers are being activated again by Ty Berry, Baptist Convention of Iowa evangelism and pastoral care team leader. Berry said units were being deployed to Wapello, where a Red Cross shelter is being set up in the facilities of Solid Rock Baptist Church.
A unit from Tennessee Baptist Convention still is serving meals in the Parkersburg area, three weeks after an EF-5 tornado destroyed about half the city. The nearby town of New Hartford, which also was impacted by the Memorial Day weekend tornado, now is experiencing flooding. One resident, who lost her home in New Hartford due to the tornado, is homeless again after her rental home she moved into Saturday, flooded on Sunday.
Berry said even though Iowans tend to be very private in their expressions of faith, he is sensing a renewed emphasis on “telling the story” in response to the disasters Iowans are experiencing.
“They are starting to share their faith and see that life and property are sometimes lost,” he said, “but one of the priorities of faith is to discover how good can come out of bad as we lean on the Lord and experience faith and trust in Him. That is hard as you look at your house laying in a pile of rubble.”
Berry said he is hoping to have two or three more state’s disaster relief units in place by the weekend to help with feeding efforts in eastern and central Iowa. The Southern Baptist North American Mission Board is activating the units and calling on them to assist the small Iowa disaster relief feeding and chainsaw units based in Winterset and Sioux City.
BCI executive director, Jimmy Barrentine, said he appreciates the disaster relief crews expected to be in Iowa from several states by the weekend.
“Every time a disaster hits, I hear people talking about God’s part in the disaster. We find God, not in the storm, but in the response to the storm,” he said. “If people want to know what God looks like, they look at those people out there helping other people in the midst of the disaster.
“God looks like a faithful Christian who takes vacation time and goes out to feed people and stack sandbags.”
The Avon Community Church in Des Moines, which recently affiliated with the Metro Baptist Association and the BCI, is flooded with 4 inches of water, and their pastor’s home is being threatened by waters held back by a levee which officials feel could burst.
The National Weather Service is predicting more rains for the beleaguered state in the next few days. Almost daily for a week, a weather pattern has been bringing storms across the upper Midwest.
Many homeowners in the Des Moines area are reporting flooded basements. Streets and sewer systems are being strained with the rising waters reported in several cities.
The BCI is mobilizing its SBC-trained disaster relief volunteers through the North American Mission Board’s call-out system. Staff members are going to be in place throughout the weekend to field calls from the state’s several disaster zones and make sure the SBC disaster relief units are in place and fully operating.
Currently there are no needs for donations of clothing, food or other goods, but Iowa convention officials reported financial contributions would be helpful to the disaster relief efforts. The convention’s offices are located at 2400 86th St., Suite 27, Des Moines, IA 50322.
–30–
Richard Nations is editor of the Iowa Baptist newspaper.
