Baptists Flooded in Croatian Village

The Baptist World Alliance®

Croatian Floods

granted an

initial sum of US$10,000 for flood relief in Croatia.

Baptist Union of Croatia and former president of the European

Toma Magda, president of the Baptist

Federation, reported that “because of huge rains in Germany and especially in Austria and neighboring Slovenia, all the hydroelectric power plants on the river Drava encountered a very serious threat and had to discharge overfl ow.” The result, he said, “was that the river broke through the embankment.” This was less than one kilometer from Puscine village where, “in less than two hours, water fl ooded the western part of the village,” Magda said. Drava is a river in southern Central

Europe that fl ows through several countries, including Austria, Slovenia and Croatia.

Several Baptist families and Baptist churches were fl ooded out.

“One of our churches and several families were fl ooded,” said Magda. Families had little time to save belongings. “Police evacuated the people minutes before it was too late. They didn’t have time to save things or more valuable machines, or cars. The water level was rising one meter every hour. It was a very scary experience,” Magda said. The business place of two Baptists suffered extensive damage.

The passage of Hurricane Sandy led to the postponement of the 136th

Annual Meeting of the

District of Columbia Baptist Convention (DCBC). The DCBC placed its volunteers on standby, including its chainsaw, debris removal, and fl ood response units to respond to areas and persons affected. “Feeding and recovery volunteers are on alert status,” said Ricky Creech, executive director/minister of DCBC. The Virginia Baptist Mission Board (VBMB)

indicated that there was little need for a response in the state of Virginia, which suffered relatively little damage though it was affected by the storm. VBMB had, however, opened a disaster response staging area at the Fairview Baptist Church in Fredericksburg. It has also provided volunteers to assist a feeding unit in New York City.

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Photos courtesy of the Baptist Union of Croatia