Baptist relief efforts in Florida — already underway following Hurricane Helene — are temporarily on “pause” as Milton rolls toward the Tampa Bay area, but response teams are ready to go once the storm passes. As of Wednesday morning (Oct. 9), Milton is expected to make landfall late this evening or early Thursday morning as a Category 3 hurricane.
“We have five [Southern Baptist Disaster Relief] kitchens on standby for response and now waiting for the storm to assess where teams will be needed,” reported Coy Webb, crisis response director for Send Relief, the compassion arm of the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board.
RELATED: For more stories related to Hurricane Helene and other Disaster Relief efforts, click here.
‘Destructive wave action’
This could be the first direct hit from a hurricane on the Tampa Bay area in more than a century. The storm surge is expected to begin hitting the coast today, with the National Hurricane Center predicting 10–15 feet of water to push inland.
“That’s well above the height of any person … even getting into the second story of a building. And the water … it’s not gonna be filling up like a bathtub,” noted Michael Brennan, director of NOAA’s National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. “This is water that’s gonna violently be pushed on shore with destructive wave action on top of it.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who declared a state of emergency on Saturday (Oct. 5) noted that the storm is expected to make “significant impacts all across the state.” Meanwhile, search and rescue teams and other first responders are ready to help those impacted by the damage after the storm passes.
For more related headlines on Hurricane Milton, see list below:
Floridians Prepare for Hurricane Milton: In the Wake of Hurricane Helene —Albert Mohler/The Briefing
Live updates: Milton approaches Florida as a Category 4 hurricane —Associated Press
Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida —The World and Everything in It
Florida Baptist Disaster Relief efforts this week —Florida Baptist Convention
EDITOR’S NOTE — This report was compiled by The Baptist Paper.
