Diocese of Texas Damage Report

My old diocese (Episcopal Diocese of Texas) has published a damage report. I have a strong connection to a few of the places mentioned. Trinity Galveston is my old school as well as youth group, Camp Allen was a place I spent most of my summers and various other weekends, and my dad used to work at Episcopal High School, Houston.

I was saddened to hear that Trinity Galveston suffered water damage as well as damage to its Tiffany stained glass window over the alter. From the video I saw, about 1/3 of the window was gone.



Trinity after the 1900 Storm


Trinity in 1918 on Armistice Day
The window over the alter

Assessing damage, caring for Episcopalians in Texas
Wimberly said in his September 15 video update that diocesan officials and Church Insurance representatives will develop a "triage list" to guide efforts to rehabilitate congregational facilities. The bishops are also trying to contact clergy and he appealed to any who had not been called, but who were viewing the YouTube report, to contact one of the diocese's bishops.

The outpouring of aid, especially from the northern part of the diocese, has been "very humbling," Wimberly reported. "Many a coastal Episopalian found a church, found shelter, found friends -- people to surround them with their love and care," he said.

Winberly ended his seven-and-a-half minute video with prayers from the Book of Common Prayer and his blessing.

Ike shattered windows in Houston's high-rise JPMorgan Chase Tower, sending glass shards and debris into the yard of the diocesan center, two blocks from the tower. In a September 14 video message, Wimberly reported that the offices had sustained only minor leaks.

"The diocesan yard out here in the front is strewn with pieces of [JPMorgan Chase's] blinds, paper probably from their desks, a lot of glass from the windows that have been blown out," he said, as police helicopters flew overhead.

The diocesan offices will re-open September 16, and diocesan Treasurer Bob Biehl will meet with representatives of Church Insurance as they begin assessing damage to church buildings.

Episcopal High School in Houston had no damage but will be closed all week. The school's website said the facility might have power by September 21.

Damage in Galveston, a low-lying community on the coast, was extensive and evacuees were told they would not be able to return for at least five days.

Trinity Church (about eight blocks from the Galveston Bay) took on water and had a hole punched in a Tiffany window above the altar, according to the diocese. Pictures of Grace Episcopal Church in Galveston on television news looked as if there might be rising water in the nave, the diocese said.

Trees were blown down at the Camp Allen conference center outside Houston, which is housing a number of nursing home patients evacuated due to the storm, including some from St. James' House, Baytown. Many first responders are also staging at Camp Allen.

In southeast Texas, coastal communities including Bridge City and Orangefield were badly flooded. "Information from Port Arthur, Groves, Nederland and Port Neches says that the electricity, phone lines, water and sewer are either down or compromised," wrote the Rev. Cliff Rucker of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Port Neches in an e-mail to the diocesan center. Rucker, his wife Judith and their three cats had evacuated to his parents' home in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Wimberly, and suffragans Dena Harrison and Rayford High and co-adjutor elect Andrew Doyle will not attend the House of Bishops' meeting in Salt Lake City Sept. 16-19 in order to monitor the situation in the diocese.

"We have heard from many of our neighboring bishops who have offered help and for this we give thanks … Please continue your prayers for those of us across the diocese as we together are going to come through this and be stronger and better for it," wrote Wimberly in an e-mail message.

Louisiana gets 'significant flooding'
Nell Bolton, head of the Diocese of Louisiana's Office of Disaster Response, told ENS September 15 that the diocese was "mobilizing in response" to "significant flooding" in areas all around New Orleans.

She called Ike a "really strange storm" that began to cause flooding east of New Orleans around Slidell on September 11. The wind blew for three days and the "water just kept coming up and coming up," she said. Flooding caused by Hurricane Gustav had not yet subsided, Bolton said, thus adding pushing Ike's surge levels higher.

"People are reeling" from Ike, she said, in part because they had little time to catch their breath after Gustav hit the area September 1. For instance, many people had just gotten their homes tarped over only to have Ike blow that material away.

Terrebonne Parish, the civil jurisdiction which includes St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Houma and St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in the Bayou du Large area, was swamped by Ike's storm surge. The parish government reported September 14 that approximately 15,000 structures had been flooded. At least 100 people had been rescued.

Bolton and another person tried to reach St. Andrew's in the Bayou du Large area on September 14 but could not get through due to flooding. An ODR official plans to head to the area September 16 with basic supplies, including water and bleach, Bolton said. Deacons took food to areas of Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes September 15.

The diocese is attempting to help people with basic needs at the moment and will make plans about aiding in housing rehabilitation once the water recedes, Bolton said.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_100670_ENG_HTM.htm

I saw the video footage on KTRK.com, I tried to find it again, but no luck.