SERBIAN BAPTISTS Appeal for Help after Deadly Flooding 

Baptists in Serbia appealed to the worldwide Baptist family for assistance after deadly floods affected large parts of Southeast Europe. The Baptist World Alliance sent an initial sum of US$8,000 in relief assistance. Heavy rainfall between May 14 and 17 caused heavy flooding and landslides, killing at least 62 people in several countries with hundreds of thousands left homeless. Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered the greatest damage with Croatia, Romania and Slovakia also affected. “Many are suffering,” wrote Ondrej Franka and Dane Vidovic, president and general secretary, respectively, of the Union of Baptist Churches in Serbia. Franka and Vidovic told the Baptist World Alliance that rivers flooded “many cities, towns and villages.”

Baptists have not been spared. “Believers from the town of Obrenovac have been evacuated and came to the Baptist church in Belgrade where they will live until their houses are made livable again,” Franka and Vidovic said. The houses of a pastor and church planter were flooded out.

Above: Flooding in the town of Obrenovac, Serbia

The Serbian Baptist leaders appealed for financial assistance and for food, water, hygienic packs, diapers, blankets, beds and linens. “This is a great opportunity to help Serbia and show the people and especially authorities that God cares.”

Baptists Respond toTornadoes and Flooding in the US

Left: North Carolina Baptist volunteers taking a break in a tent set up as a break room

Below: North Carolina Baptists set up the FEMA mobile hospital in Louisville, Mississippi, after the local hospital was damaged by a tornado in April. The men were trained for 60 hours in how to put the hospital together in the field.    Photos courtesy of Bill Koplitz/FEMA 

Baptists responded to the spate of natural disasters that caused the loss of life and property in parts of the United States in late April. On April 25, numerous severe thunderstorms developed across central and eastern North Carolina into southern Virginia, damaging or destroying 100 homes, killing one person and injuring 16 others. From April 27-29, numerous tornadoes ripped across parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Florida. More than 160 tornadoes were reported over a four day period and more than 60 confirmed by authorities.

A large tornado struck Mayflower and Vilonia in Arkansas on April 27 causing severe damage, killing 15 people. Another death wasconfirmed with a tornado that moved through Quapaw, Oklahoma, and Baxter Springs, Kansas. At least nine people were killed when a tornado struck Louisville, Mississippi. Severe flooding has also been associated with the storm system, with areas of Florida, Arkansas, Missouri, Maryland and other states badly affected. At least 35 people have died from the tornadoes and floods. Groups such as the Cooper- ative Baptist Fellowship, Virginia Baptists, North Carolina Baptist Men and Texas Baptist Men have responded or are preparing to do so. Others awaited assessment from first responders and disaster relief coordinators to determine their response. The Baptist World Alliance, through Baptist World Aid, monitored the level of damage and response to the various disasters.

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