04440
October 4, 2004

Hurricane Jeanne socks Presbyterian churches in Florida

Luck runs out for some property escaping earlier storms

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE — Jeanne, Florida’s fourth hurricane in six weeks, piled more destruction — including numerous churches and a pastor’s home — onto an array of Presbyterian-owned property already battered by earlier storms,.

       The presbyteries of Tampa Bay and Tropical Florida were hardest hit by the Sunshine State’s latest hurricane, which came ashore along Florida’s east coast shortly before midnight on Sept. 25, in the same area that was hit three weeks ago by Hurricane Frances.

       “The tragic part of it is that many of the same properties and churches were hit yet again,” said Stan Hankins, U.S. disaster response coordinator for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA). “If they didn’t suffer additional wind damage, many of them certainly probably got wet again because of what (Hurricane) Frances did.”

       Despite killing at least six people, none of whom were believed to be Presbyterians, and bearing down on the state with winds of 120 mph, most new church damage from Jeanne was described as moderate.

       The most significant destruction was reported in the Presbytery of Tropical Florida in the southeast part of the state, where Peace Presbyterian Church in Stuart may be totaled following Jeanne’s making landfall near this small community.

       The 400-member congregation was already holding services in its fellowship hall after Frances badly damaged the church’s sanctuary roof last month.

       Hurricane Jeanne finished the job by flattening the fellowship hall roof as it sliced across the state with howling wind and torrents of rain that turned streets into rivers.

       “We think the church is probably just gone,” Arlene W. Gordon, executive presbyter, said about Peace Church last week. “We don’t know if they can even save it at this point. They have more damage in the sanctuary, which they were already working on. The fellowship hall is gone now.”

       Gordon said the home of Peace Church pastor, the Rev. James Bailey, sustained more damage after being badly hit by Hurricane Frances.

       Gordon joined other presbytery and church leaders from around Florida in scrambling to assess damage following Hurricane Jeanne and account for church members, a task complicated by downed telephone and power lines.

       “Half of our churches we have not been able to get in contact with because the power is still out,” said Gordon, whose presbytery represents about 22,000 Presbyterians and 58 churches. “Some of the (churches) just got their power back, some of them are still without it. We have not been able to contact one or two churches that were in the area and we don’t know what the situation is there.”

       First Presbyterian Church in Stuart lost part of its roof and had water damage.

       First Presbyterian Church in North Palm Springs — one of the presbytery’s largest congregations with more than 1,400 members — escaped the wrath of Hurricane Frances but was damaged during Hurricane Jeanne, according to Gordon.

       The roof at Indian River Presbyterian Church in Fort Pierce, damaged during Hurricane Frances, received additional water damage from Jeanne.

       Faith Presbyterian Church in Palm Springs and First Presbyterian Church in Fort Pierce both took on water in their sanctuaries along with suffering new roof damage.

       “This is a tough blow to the presbytery because we were just starting to figure out what we needed to do to repair the damage from the last hurricane, and now this one,” Gordon said. “People didn’t even have a chance to turn around, and the other one was right on top of us. It went almost the same route that Frances went and got all the same churches or got the ones that managed to escape the first one.”

       The National Hurricane Center in Miami described the similar paths of Jeanne and Frances as perhaps unprecedented. Florida is the first state to get pounded by four hurricanes in one season since Texas experienced this in 1886. Two months remain in the 2004 hurricane season.

       Charley hammered Florida’s southwest coast Aug. 13; Frances blanketed much of the peninsula as it crawled through Labor Day weekend; and Ivan blasted the panhandle when it hit Sept. 16. The three storms caused billions of dollars in damage and killed 73 people in Florida alone.

       Nearly 1.9 million homes and businesses were still without power early last week from Jeanne. About 36,650 people in the panhandle were still without power in the area hit by Ivan. 

       Jeanne, which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, dissipated into a tropical depression over Georgia before moving into Virginia on Sept. 28. Its destructive power was already clear from the devastation in Haiti, where more than 1,500 were killed in flooding and landslides.

       Jeanne was the third hurricane to strike the Presbytery of Tampa Bay in less than six weeks. Its 400-mile diameter system passed northeast of Tampa before heading toward the panhandle, which was still recovering from Ivan.

       The storm assaulted churches in the Presbytery of Tampa Bay, which sustained only minor damage during hurricanes Charley and Frances, leaving more battered roofs and additional water damage, according to Karen Porter, a staff member at Tampa Bay Presbytery, which includes 30,000 Presbyterians and 79 congregations.

       “Polk County churches sustained extensive damage,” Porter said. “We did not have any that were totally destroyed, but we did have several that were severely damaged in different ways. Mostly it was water damage.”

       Homeowners with a few shingles gone after the first two storms are now facing extensive repairs as roofers and plumbers remain in short supply.

       Cedarkirk Camp and Conference Center in Lithia, which Tampa Bay Presbytery co-owns with Peace River Presbytery, was hit hard, Porter said. She said trees and branches were down all over the grounds, including a large tree that fell on a cabin.

       Access to the camp had been hampered from the closing of a water-damaged roadway. As of Sept. 28 the camp was still without power.

       The steeple at First Presbyterian Church in Lakeland was damaged, and a skylight was shattered at First Presbyterian Church in Winter Haven, according to Porter and the Presbytery of Tampa Bay’s hurricane relief bulletin.

       First Presbyterian Church in Lake Alfred suffered leaks in its sanctuary, with some hymnals and Bibles sustaining damage. First Church in Haines City sustained water damage to its walls and sanctuary.

       A children’s playground was destroyed at First Presbyterian Church in Inverness. , The hurricane bulletin reported that First Presbyterian Church in Brooksville and First Presbyterian Church in Crystal River had trees and branches down, but no major damage based on an initial assessment.

       As of Sept. 29 officials at the Presbytery of Tampa Bay were unable to establish contact with several churches in the northern part of the presbytery. The presbytery hopes to set up a comfort station to provide pastoral care and other assistance for people in the region.

       Hurricane Jeanne also inflicted further church property damage in Central Florida Presbytery, which includes 76 congregations and more than 32,000 Presbyterians in 10 counties.

       “What I know at this point is that those churches that were damaged by (Hurricane) Frances were further damaged by Hurricane Jeanne,” said theRev. Paige M. McRight, executive presbyter. “I don’t know of any new damage, but there are still places that we haven’t heard from on the coast.”

       PDA has sent $240,000 from the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering and designated disaster funds to presbyteries affected by the hurricanes for relief work and for church repair.

       Hankins said an event is being planned for early November in Florida for presbyteries impacted by the recent hurricanes. “We’re extremely concerned about the psychological and spiritual impact that repeated storms are having on many of the people in the Southeast,” Hankins said. “And we’re designing some programs that will try to be of help in that situation.”

       Peace River Presbytery in southwest Florida, which was hit hard by Hurricane Charley in August, escaped without serious repercussions from Jeanne.

       “We did OK,” said Alesia R. Sharpe, office manager at Peace River Presbytery in North Port. “The presbytery office is OK. We have some people that were affected by it. We had flooding, and of course more trees are down. Mostly landscaping damage, some roof damage. More blue tarps.”

       In Florida Presbytery, which covers the panhandle, there was no significant damage.

       “During Jeanne we actually faired just fine,” said Michele Dalton, program and communication specialist at the Presbytery of Florida. “We haven’t heard of any damage at all that came from her. We’re still trying to recover from Ivan. But Jeanne really did not affect us.”

       St. Augustine Presbytery, in northeastern Florida, also reported no major problems from Hurricane Jeanne. “There was some more flooding in churches and homes, but that was mostly caused by the high tide and all the rain,” said the Rev. Michael E. Williams, associate executive presbyter.

       Financial contributions for hurricane relief can be made by mailing checks to: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Individual Remittance Processing, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700. Gifts by credit card may be made by calling PresbyTel at 800-872-3283 or online at: http://www.pcusa.org/pda. Refer to relief #9-2000015 for U.S. disaster response; #9-2000163 for U.S. church property damage; and#9-2000166 for Caribbean disaster response.