RICHMOND, Va. (ABP) -- The Southern Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the Baptist General Association of Virginia and other Baptist groups are gearing up to respond to catastrophic flooding that has afflicted the Atlanta area and other parts of Georgia.

At least 10 people died in the floods and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) has declared a state of emergency in 17 flood-stricken counties, which have sustained an estimated $250 million in losses. The groups were, as of press time for this story, assessing how best to respond to the flooding, which meteorologists have said is of a scope seen on average only once every 500 years.

Plans to send Virginia Baptist disaster-relief teams to Georgia have been put on hold while assessment of needs continues, a leader in the effort said Sept. 28.

Terry Raines, disaster-relief coordinator for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board, had called Sept. 25 for volunteers to help with clean-up recovery, or “mud out,” in parts of Georgia hit by the floods the week of Sept. 20. He had anticipated at least one team leaving Sept. 28.

But those volunteers are being asked to “remain on standby for likely activation later this week,” said Raines.

“The reason for the delay is the wide area flooded resulted in a longer assessment and operation set-up time than was initially anticipated,” he said. “The waters must recede. The roads must be cleared. Housing, feeding and showers for volunteers must be in place. Homes of families requesting assistance must be assessed and work orders created before teams can begin work. When the jobs are ready, additional teams will likely be activated.”

Raines said two Virginia Baptist disaster-relief assessors have left for Douglasville, Ga., just west of Atlanta. Douglasville is the site of the operations center set up by the main network of Baptist disaster-relief organizations, which includes the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, based in the Atlanta area.

CBF and SBC officials are also assessing and evaluating how best to respond. While the SBC has an extensive disaster-relief network that focuses on the immediate aftermath of calamities, CBF's newer and smaller network focuses on long-term relief in devastated communities.

“The folks in Atlanta who are hurting are hurting now, and they will be hurting for a long time,” said Charles Ray, CBF's disaster-response coordinator in a press release. “CBF’s strength is our commitment to come alongside those hurting folks long after the first responders have left. We will be right there with them for the long term.”

Ray and other CBF disaster-response officials will be assessing damage on Sept. 29, evaluating which areas would be the best candidates for the kind of long-term response in which CBF specializes. So far, the national CBF organization -- also based in Atlanta -- has worked closely with CBF of Georgia in gathering information on potential areas in which to work.

Baptist Press, the SBC's news arm, reported that the North American Mission Board is coordinating its assessments with the Georgia Baptist Convention.

“We’re working with Georgia Baptists to identify sites and pockets of need across north Georgia,” said Mickey Caison,  NAMB’s team leader for adult-volunteer mobilization. “Once again Southern Baptist disaster-relief volunteers are stepping up to provide effective disaster response in cooperation with our state partners.”

Assisting the Georgia convention and NAMB with needs assessment is a team from the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, reported BP.

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Robert Dilday is managing editor of the Virginia Baptist Religious Herald.

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