Current Crisis:
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica as a Cat-5 hurricane with wind speeds of wind of 185 mph. It was one of the strongest hurricanes in Atlantic Basin recorded history. It unleashed destructive winds, flash flooding, and storm surge. Early reports have indicated severe damage to infrastructure, buildings, homes, hospitals, and schools, particularly in the parishes of St Elizabeth, Manchester, Hanover, and St James. Heavy flooding in the western part of the island with the southwest being the worst flooded area. Serious flooding in Montego Bay, St Thomas, St Eilzabeth, and Clarendon. People are being rescued from rooftops in Montego Bay. Rainfall was reported to be over 30 inches in some locations. 540,000 people are currently without power and 15,000 are in shelters. Four hospitals along the coast were damaged with one hospital forces to evacuate 75 patients. The airports are closed but they anticipate their opening by Thursday.
In eastern Cuba, Hurricane came ashore this morning as a Cat-3 hurricane with winds of 120 mph. It is projected to dump up to 20 inches of rain in Eastern Cuba and pummel the coast with 7-11 feet of storm surge. 700,000 have been evacuated in Eastern Cuba. Severe flooding being reported in areas near rivers with storm still ongoing.
Heavy rains are also projected in Haiti and mountain areas of Haiti are expected to have landslides and flash flooding. Flooding already reported in Haiti.
And in the southeast Bahamas, including the Turks and Caicos, tropical storm and hurricane conditions are expected late Wednesday, where it will drop up to 10 inches of rain before moving out late Wednesday evening.
Current Response:
Send Relief has been actively communicating with the Send Relief Area Director (AD) for the Americas. The Send Relief AD has been in communication with national and company partners in the Caribbean islands where Hurricane Melissa is being projected to impact, and response plans have begun to be put together.
In Jamaica, Send Relief Area Director (AD) has been in continuous communication with Jamaica Baptist Union Mission Agency and Caribbean Baptist fellowship. Send Relief has released funding for emergency response through national Baptist partners. Send Relief Crisis Response Director is working with the SBDR partnerships (Florida & Tennessee) and has been communicating with these state directors.
Send Relief is deploying a joint Florida SBDR-Send Relief DART team to Jamaica including a Communication leader & AD for the Americas. The team is projected to be on the island this weekend. Additional teams from Florida & Tennessee SBDR remain on Standby for the response with several other state SBDR networks available if needed.
In Cuba, Send Relief through the work of our AD has already released resources through company leaders to national partners. Generators sent previously by Send Relief have been distributed to strategic Baptist churches and national partners for response. Cuba has a strong national church network and a trained Baptist DR group with capacity for response. The Baptist convention feels they can manage the response effort.
Currently there are no plans for U.S. volunteers to be deployed in response.
In Haiti, Send Relief is collaborating with partners to be prepared to activate resources to assist Haitian Baptist churches in response. Currently, the volatility and instability of Haiti prohibit any U.S. volunteers responding for safety reasons. Send Relief is also in communication with the Florida Baptist Convention and its strong Haitian Pastor Network for partnership in response.
In Jamaica, Send Relief Crisis Response Director is working with the SBDR partnerships (Florida & Tennessee) and have been in communication with these state directors. Send Relief is deploying a joint Florida SBDR-Send Relief DART team to Jamaica including a Communication leader & AD for the Americas. The team is projected to be on the island this weekend if the airport is open following the storm. Additional teams from Florida & Tennessee SBDR remain on Standby for the response. Send Relief has released funding for emergency response through national Baptist partners.
The Send Relief Crisis Response Director has also put a Send Relief DART-trained Team in Puerto Rico on Standby if needed. The team is bi-lingual with strong cultural understanding of the Caribbean. This team is being held for potential deployment to Cuba if needed.
At the current time, Send Relief is not requesting additional U.S. volunteers for response beyond the Florida & Tennessee SBDR and Send Relief Puerto Rico DART team that are on Standby.
The best current way for Southern Baptists to respond is by praying and giving.
Prayer Requests:
- Pray for those affected by the storm in Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, and Dominican Republic.
- Pray for those that have been displaced by the storm and whose homes have been damaged.
- Pray for those who have lost loved ones and for those who suffered injuries in this deadly storm.
- Pray for those living in the mountains of these islands impacted by heavy rains and landslides.
- Pray for the communities that remain in the path of this monster storm.
- Pray for Cuba and Haiti as many on these islands are already suffering before the storm with food shortages, lack of medical supplies, and extreme poverty.
- Pray for Send Relief and partners as we begin response and continue to monitor the storm as it continues to track north and impact islands in its path.
- Pray for the Send Relief-Florida SBDR DART team as it arrives in Jamaica to assess and provide initial response.
- Pray that God would use Send Relief and partners to offer the help and hope of Christ in the aftermath of the storms.
Hunt shared about the importance of giving.
“I’m talking about financial giving. Financial giving is the most important giving that we can do in this regard because money can become whatever tools and resources are needed at just the time that they’re needed, and it costs no money to ship them,” he said. “We can get it directly to the people who we know and trust, who will be good stewards of that resource, who know the people on the ground who can use the help, and who are organizing to bring aid to those survivors.”
If you or your church would like to contribute financially, his first suggestion would be to go to brnunited.org/give. Fill out the fields and put the amount in but also be sure to mention that it’s for Hurricane Melissa. Or you can just click on the BRN Disaster Relief option, and the BRN will make sure that the money is sent to the entities that we know are helping.
“I would like to say that we need to be praying as BRN churches for one another because there will be lots of solicitations coming in from different angles, asking you for all kinds of support,” Hunt added. “And in those asks for help will be things like, send us these things, collect all this stuff… We’re going to put it in a shipping container and send it to Cuba or send it to Jamaica or send it to Bermuda.”
He stressed, “What I’m telling you, as your disaster relief director, is resist those. Don’t do it. The best option for giving is financial giving. And just send it to brnunited.org, and we’ll make sure that it gets to where it’s going to go.”
To learn more about disaster relief, visit brnunited.org/dr.
Photo credit: Screen grab of “Hurricane Melissa leaves trail of devastation in Jamaica” report by NBC News.
