Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains are headed to Nashville, Tennessee, where a state of emergency is in effect after widespread flooding over the weekend.
Starting this past Saturday, the city received seven inches of rain in just 48 hours. At least four people have died, and more than 100 others had to be rescued from vehicles, apartments and houses as waters continued to rise.
The flooding comes on the heels of severe weather across the South, including three tornadoes that touched down in Nashville on March 25.
A team of crisis-trained chaplains have deployed in response to offer emotional and spiritual care to residents facing loss and devastation after recent events. The chaplains will come alongside Samaritan’s Purse workers while they help clear debris from flood damage.
“We have been able to serve the people of Nashville on multiple occasions, including 11 years ago during a similar flood, and we consider it a privilege to be able to share the love of Christ with them again,” said Josh Holland, assistant director for the Rapid Response Team. “As those who were evacuated return to find their homes and belongings destroyed, we know there are a lot of people hurting and our crisis-trained chaplains want to listen and provide emotional and spiritual care to those who were impacted by these floods, or the other storms of life.”
Though rainfall has subsided, the National Weather Service warned the threat is not over. More flooding is possible in Middle Tennessee as water flows from swollen creeks and streams into major rivers like the Cumberland and Harpeth, where deaths were reported nearby.
The recent severe weather is another blow to a city that’s faced one crisis after another in the past year, on top of the pandemic. Last March, a deadly tornado barreled through the city and on Christmas Day, a bombing left residents shaken.
Please join in praying for Nashville as residents and business owners continue to recover. Also pray for those who lost loved ones in the flooding, as well as for Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains tasked with ministering in this great time of need.
