By Alli J. Newsom, NMAC Communications Director
There are parts of the country that are accustomed to dealing with a deluge. Roswell, NM is not such a town. The only indication that the good people of Chavez County had for the coming disaster on the night of Saturday, October 20, 2024 was a red blob on a weather forecast app that seemed to be stuck there for an inordinate amount of time.

An historic 1.5 to 2 inches of rain per hour fell overnight. This amount of rain had not been experienced in Roswell since 1901. Media sources reported two people dead, 290 people rescued and hundreds of homes destroyed.

One of the realities of a city of 50,000 is that local communication is essentially social media and word of mouth. It was not until people started to share photos and videos of the terrible flooding in the area that the community and our churches knew the extent of the damage.

Rev. Young Kang, Pastor at Trinity UMC-Roswell shared that his response was mainly to his congregants whose homes had been damaged. He said, “My congregants are either too old or too young. I was the only able-bodied person to help.” He said that he breathed in too much dust, carried heavy furniture, and buckets of mud. After a few days, he became incapacitated but luckily at that point, the UMCOR team arrived to spell him.

Young said that immediately after the flooding, his congregants contacted their insurance companies thinking they were covered. They were told that because they did not have flood insurance, their claims were rejected. That was horrible news, but FEMA may be able to help cover some of the damage.

In addition to serving the needs of their congregation too, FUMC-Roswell Pastors, Rev’s Tina & Laird Cross worked to coordinate the efforts of the Conference, the city and the UMCOR Early Response Team (ERT) from Phoenix. Since the NM Conference does not presently have an ERT, Bishop Carlo requested help from the Desert Southwest Conference (DSC). The ERT’s arrived a week after the flood and went to work on homes identified by the city coordinator. FUMC-Roswell housed and fed the DSC ERT’s.

ERT’s receive important training on how to stay out of trouble, make sure that they have permission to do the work, and care for the people who live in the homes. Their responsibility is to muck out homes, carry out ruined furniture, and remove soaked sheet rock. The DSC ERT stayed for four days. Laird said, “The six ERT’s looked just like any other UMC person you might meet.” In other words, while we often think that only “young” people can serve in these capacities, there is work for us all. In fact, FUMC-Roswell church members will have been at church at 6:30 am every morning for a month making a hot breakfast for 22 people whose low-income apartments were destroyed. These unfortunate folks are being housed in a motel, do not have transportation, and some are disabled. There is a way for everyone to serve.

At the start of the clean-up effort, there were approximately 500 homes on the list needing help. Groups like Rubicon and the NM Baptist Disaster Team arrived, which helped the work go faster. By Friday, Nov 1st, additional UMCOR teams scheduled to come, were thanked but informed that their presence was unnecessary. Damaged homes still require mucking out, but the city coordinator said that they could manage the work locally.

Once homeowners receive FEMA assistance and/or compensation from their insurance companies, Volunteers in Mission (VIM) teams can start to help the rebuilding process. Bishop Carlo applied to UMCOR for a $10,000 Solidarity Grant, which has been approved and will be used to help Roswell rebuild. The homes are in impoverished areas and will need help for a long time to come.

We hope that this type of disaster does not happen again for a long time, but if it does, Roswell’s experience has informed the Annual Conference of some areas of improvement. One of our first priorities is to rebuild and train our Conference ERT. Anyone who feels called to serve people in this way should contact Roselie Johnston: rjohnston@nmconfum.com.