Christian groups are preparing for post-Fay relief work in Florida after the tropical storm downgraded to tropical depression and left the state for other Gulf Coast cities on Saturday.
Groups such as the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and The Salvation Army will be delivering special support to storm and flood victims in affected areas over the next few days.
"We are receiving reports of catastrophic flooding and debris in parts of the state," said Marilyn Swanson, director of Disaster Recovery Ministry for the United Methodist Church's Florida Annual (regional) Conference, in a report Friday. "We are trying to anticipate the needs that will be arising in the next few days."
UMCOR will provide flood buckets filled with clean-up supplies to Florida homeowners. It has 1,400 buckets stored in a warehouse in Madison, located about an hour away from Tallahassee. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) tarps are also pre-positioned in churches.
United Methodists are also re-stocking their local food pantry or food bank.
If needed, relief teams will be mobilised by the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission.
Though tropical storm Fay did not have the strength of a hurricane, it did cause severe damage in Florida, including at least 11 deaths in the state. Overall, the death toll for Fay is at least 35, with a total of 23 deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic from flooding, according to The Associated Press.
Fay was unique in that it made a record of four landfalls, taking nearly a week to zigzag through the peninsula. Fay was the first storm in nearly 50 years to make three landfalls in the state as a tropical storm. Its historic fourth landfall occurred early Saturday about 15 miles northwest of Apalachicola, Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.
