Home

Update: Alabama Churches Affected by Evacuation Order

OVIEDO, FL (September 15, 2004) - "As of 3 a.m. this morning (September 15), there is a mandatory evacuation for all people in south Alabama living below Interstate 10 - this includes all three of our Covenant churches in that area and their people."

That urgent update was emailed late this afternoon by Kurt Miericke, superintendent of the Southeast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. "Pastor Jesse Adams of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Silverhill is a fire department chaplain and he has stayed behind. We ask prayers for the safety of our Covenant friends and all others in this area. Hurricane Ivan seems to making a direct hit in this area."

Miericke earlier in the day provided a more detailed update on churches affected by hurricane activity over the past several weeks.

"We are still recovering from two hurricanes in the past month (Charley and Frances)," Miericke writes. "Now our big concern is for our three churches in south Alabama (from approaching Hurricane Ivan). All of them - Silverhill Covenant, Greenwood Covenant and New Covenant - are only miles north of the Gulf coast. They are in harms way. Please remember them and all those in the path of Hurricane Ivan."

As Miericke was writing, Hurricane Ivan already was bashing the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle with 135 mph winds and pounding waves, forcing the evacuation of nearly two million coastal residents. The National Hurricane Center predicts the eye of Ivan will make landfall early Thursday (around 4 a.m. ET) across Mobile Bay in Alabama. The hurricane may weaken slightly, but still will be a dangerous Category 3 storm when it hits land. "If the storm hits Mobile as predicted, 12 blocks of the city's downtown, starting at the water's edge, could be under water, says meteorologist Chad Myers.

"Here in Florida, we had extensive damage to the Vero Beach Covenant Church and the Royal Palm Covenant Church," Miericke says of storms Charley and Frances. "We are starting to list the damages and some groups are starting to donate funds and supplies to these two churches. Several of our pastors also experienced severe damage to their homes. Mike Rose's rental home was condemned by FEMA and they are now living in a motel. I will past along more information as I get it."

Miericke will travel to south Florida Thursday to work with the Bethany Covenant Church and will make another visit in Vero Beach before returning home. Faith Covenant Church in St. Petersburg has offered temporary shelter to any evacuates from Alabama – they provided similar support to people from Vero Beach.

And as people dig out from the damage inflicted by Charley, Frances and Ivan, residents are bracing themselves for the possibility of yet another storm – Jeanne – that is slowly making landfall over Puerto Rico and, some predict, could eventually find its way to the Florida coastline.

To read more about Hurricane Ivan, please see CNN Update.

News Comments

Who We Are · Local Churches & Conferences · Denominational Ministries · Institutional Ministries · Support Ministries · Outreach Ministries · Inicio Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. 5101 N Francisco Ave., Chicago IL 60625. 773-784-3000. Privacy Policy & Terms of Use.