Surveying the Island

Surveying the Island

Tropical Storm Imelda Flooding in Kingwood: KUMC’s Response

by Gladden Lawrence Assistant to the Mission Pastor, Rev. Chris Harrison

After living 40+ years in Kingwood and thinking I had seen or experienced everything, then came Imelda! If Harvey, and then May flooding weren’t enough, a reminder of our physical and emotional vulnerabilities came to us in the form of Tropical Storm Imelda!

Serving in Missions at KUMC for the past five years taught me many lessons about my faith, our congregation, and our community; we come together during disasters and we are resilient! So, when the skies cleared and the water began to recede, we surveyed our island and our church mobilized teams to search for families needing help. We provided the manpower and supplies, put the routine on the shelf, and turned our facility into yet another flooding recovery center for yet another natural disaster.

Harris County Emergency Relief, the Red Cross, and Houston Food Bank added additional resources to a satellite command center setup in our K-Building. Representatives arrived to interview, register, and counsel homeowners looking for whatever support they could get. The long recovery process had begun.

More than 1,500 families were interviewed, registered, and received, water, and cleaning supplies.

KUMC Staff home visits became a priority to assess damage, provided physical and emotional needs, and prayer. During these visits homeowner resiliency, the range of positive and negative emotions, calmness, peace, and spiritual resolution is and remains inspiring.

Completed KUMC’s Disaster Fund Applications have exceeded 46; 40 of those applications have been processed with checks distributed amounting to $45,450 going into the hands homeowners for needs ranging from bedding, food, housing, clothing, and construction supplies. To date, donations to KUMC’s Disaster Relief Fund total $56,372.92. These monies have come from the generosity of our congregation and from multiple other sources in the community. Personally, over the past several weeks, visiting and praying with these homeowners who were either flooded by Imelda, May’s rains, Harvey, or all three, and listening to their stories of hope and resilience, strengthened my own heart to survey my own island and realize God’s joy and hope can only come through Him even and especially under the most trying of circumstances like a natural disaster.