CRWRC Finds Unmet Needs in Pacific Northwest Flooding

CRWRC Disaster Response Services (DRS) has established a Needs Assessment Team in Astoria, Oregon to organize the agency's response among nearly 2,000 families who registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency after flood water roared through the town just before Christmas 2007.  This work will continue through to May 2008.
 
"CRWRC is working to show God's love and bring hope to disaster-impacted communities like Astoria," says CRWRC-DRS director Bill Adams. "Our volunteers use their time, skill, and resources to serve those who are most vulnerable in these devastating situations."
 
The first few days of December 2007 brought storms that included heavy rain, hurricane-force winds, and rising flood water through the Pacific Northwest, hitting Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington most severely. The severe weather ravaged towns, knocked-out power lines, and made roadways impassable. Federal agencies responded with boats and rescue/evacuation trucks to bring to safety hundreds of people who were trapped or stranded by the raging water.
 
A news release from U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) reporting on her December 5, 2007, speech from the Senate floor called parts of Southwest Washington, "a sea of brown water. Homes are flooded up to their roofs. Entire communities have been isolated by swamped roads." (http://murray.senate.gov/news)
 
The 15-person Needs Assessment Team will, led by CRWRC-DRS Regional Project Manager, Jay De Boer, will go from house-to-house in Astoria's flooded areas to inventory survivors' unmet needs and gather information for local long-term response organizations in Astoria.
 
CRWRC is finishing up responses in Lewis County, Washington, and Vernonia, Oregon, where DRS volunteers staffed walk-in centers as well as completed door-to-door surveys among surviving home- and business-owners. Next month, more volunteers will open an additional response site in Aberdeen, Washington, to do the same type of assessments and information sourcing.