Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief Completes Cleanup From Late June Derecho

Photo by SBC Disaster Relief

BETHANY MO – Crews from Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief spent several weeks working to clear the area after the June 29th derecho hit Bethany and surrounding communities.

According to John Mohler, Director of Missions for the Harrison Baptist Association, who organized and headed up the relief effort, disaster relief volunteer
chainsaw crews were on the ground within two hours after the storm cleared the area.

Mohler said that the motto at Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief is to bring help, hope and healing, and hopefully he says they have been able to do that, noting that there
is never a fee for their services.

In total, chainsaw teams from throughout Missouri, including several from Clay and Platte counties, along with help from a team from Texas Baptist Men, completed 163 work orders in five different towns in the area, including Bethany, Albany, New Hampton, Martinsville and Gilman City.

Mohler noted that while a couple houses had trees puncture the roof, which required tarping, a lot of the jobs involved removing limbs that were either leaning on buildings or blocking driveways and removing “hangers” that posed a danger to anyone and anything below them.

Mohler said that almost every job involved the use of a bucket lift or a skid steer loader to move debris to the curb for pickup.

The disaster relief team included 133 volunteers who helped over 27 days.