MIAMI, Okla. – Seventeen Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief (DR) volunteers were involved in a traffic accident as they were on their way to Missouri to help with flood relief in St. Louis. On Sunday, Aug. 7 a caravan of three vans were in Miami, Oklahoma, just southwest of Joplin when they were struck by a semi-trailer truck in a construction zone.
Don Williams, the director of Disaster Relief for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO) said there was extensive damage to the rear of the third van in the caravan of vehicles and it pushed it forward into the second vehicle. He said there were six people with injuries that were treated and released at an area hospital.
He said one van will probably be totaled and the other may or may not be drivable. The BGCO sent replacement vans to Miami from Oklahoma City as well as flatbed trucks to transport the damaged vehicles back home.
The DR team stayed overnight in a hotel in Miami and at press time were determining if they would continue on to St. Louis for the flood relief efforts or would return home. Williams was confident at least some of them will continue on to St. Louis.
He said one of the volunteers said, “If this happened to us on the way to Missouri, the Lord must have something for us that the devil doesn’t want us to do.”
Williams added, “This is the Cooperative Program demonstrated without any money. These are Southern Baptists in action.”
The volunteers were heading to the northern suburbs of St. Louis where 13 inches of rain fell July 25th and 26th. Many low lying areas were flooded, roads closed and hundreds of basements have filled with water. Flood recovery teams are helping residents by cleaning out and sanitizing their flooded basements. They share the love of God and attempt to transform lives and communities with the gospel by bringing help, hope and healing.
Donations for flood relief efforts can be given at www.modr.org/give or send a check to MODR, 400 E. High St., Jefferson City, MO 65101. Mark the check for St. Louis Flood.