• Philip Burn

Multiple County Response Ongoing For The Salvation Army in Texas

Dallas, Texas (June 1, 2016) –  The Salvation Army Texas Division continues to support widespread response efforts across Texas due to the recent severe weather providing food and hydration services to first responders and residents as well as distribution of cleaning supplies.

Salvation Army staff is involved in the State Operations Center and in several local Emergency Operations Centers. Alvin Migues, Emergency Disaster Services Director for The Salvation Army in Texas said, “Coordinating a large scale response of this kind is very challenging particularly as many roads are closed due to rising water. Entire towns are being asked to evacuate but many people do not want to leave their homes. The Salvation Army is committed to helping those affected in what could be a long-term response effort, involving multiple units over a large area.”

After sustained heavy rain that began before the Memorial Day weekend several counties in the state, particularly between Austin and Houston, are facing widespread flooding and the threat of rivers cresting near or above record levels.

Brazoria County

• The Salvation Army of Freeport, in preparation for the forecasted flooding, has a team on stand-by to provide food, hydration and emotional and spiritual care. Several cities including Wharton, Rosenberg and Simonton are under mandatory evacuation orders.
• In partnership with Mercy Chefs and county emergency management, The Salvation Army has deployed a kitchen to the city of Angleton to support feeding operations in Brazoria County.
• 300 food boxes, 6 pallets of water and approximately 400 clean up kits have been staged at our facility in Freeport to support response efforts.
• Staging of additional staff and other resources is being considered based on forecast.

 Brazos County

• The Salvation Army of Bryan/College Station has representation at the City of Bryan EOC and continues to provide food, hydration and emotional and spiritual care to first responders and residents affected by the current severe weather.
• Chick-fil-A in Bryan has donated lunch sandwiches in support of the relief efforts and Walmart provided a van load of snacks, drinks, water and tarps.

Fort Bend County

• The Salvation Army Houston Area Command is establishing an Incident Command Team at Houston International Corps to respond in Fort Bend County by providing food, hydration and emotional and spiritual care.

Stephens County

• The Salvation Army delivered water, at the request of DDC Abilene, to the City of Breckenridge due to their water plant not functioning.

Travis County

• The Salvation Army Austin Area Command – the Williamson County volunteer disaster team provided food, hydration and emotional and spiritual care to first responders and residents in the affected areas of southeast Travis County.

Washington County

• Cots, blankets, water and hygiene products have been delivered to the town of Brenham in support of shelter operations.

Brown County

• The Salvation Army of Brownwood is prepared to provide food, hydration and emergency shelter in partnership with local emergency management, CERT, American Red Cross and the County Health Department

All Salvation Army units across the division have been briefed on the current situation and are on stand-by.

Donations to support the ongoing Salvation Army response efforts can be made by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY, or online at http://tsatx.org/TX_Floods