Kansas Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists (KNCSB)

Recovery continues after floods, tornado

Much of the rubble has been cleared in Greensburg, Kan., following the EF5 tornado on May 4. This photo shows the downtown business district with the new modular building housing the local Post Office in the background. The grain elevator was one of the few structures in town that survived the tornado. Southern Baptists are working with First Baptist Church, the American Baptist congregation in Greensburg. KNCSB ended its disaster-relief feeding operation on June 27, after serving 56,546 meals. (Photo by Eva Wilson)

Cleanup efforts are continuing in Coffeyville, Kan., and surrounding communities after recent flooding.

First Southern Baptist Church in Coffeyville is serving as headquarters for the Southern Baptist relief effort in that area.

Mud-out teams are serving in Coffeyville, Independence and Fredonia. They earlier worked in Neodesha. The teams have come from such states as New Mexico, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and Alabama.

Osawatomie, Kan., about an hour’s drive southwest of Kansas City, also was hit by flooding. The Southern Baptist mud-out operation there was scheduled to shut down in late July.

Mud-out teams came to Osawatomie from Alabama and Indiana, along with a disaster-relief shower unit from Illinois.

Meanwhile, volunteers are now being recruited for rebuilding efforts in the flooded communities, plus Greensburg. The southwest Kansas community is recovering from the devastating tornado on May 4.

For more information on rebuilding, contact Elijah “Touch” Touchton at Touchton is the KNCSB disaster-relief rebuilding coordinator. He is an electrical contractor who belongs to Trinity Baptist Church, Pittsburg, Kan.