After Hurricane Sally devastated multiple regions of the Deep South, the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (RRT) has deployed to Foley, Alabama, to offer comfort and share God’s hope with the recovering community. At least two people in Alabama and Georgia lost their lives due to the storm.
Last week, Sally made landfall as a Category 2 storm near Gulf Shores, Alabama. The powerful storm moved sluggishly, dumping several feet of rain and turning many roads into rivers. Video coverage showed people kayaking along the streets, overturned campers, homes sitting in more than a foot of water, and downed trees.
Sharon Folsom, a RRT chaplain coordinator that lives only 20 miles north of Foley, is leading a team of crisis-trained chaplains. She helped assess the damage in the coastal region, where Southern charm and beautiful scenery usually draw tourists year-round. While the destruction hits close to home for Folsom, it also serves as a reminder of her recent deployment to Lake Charles, Louisiana, following Hurricane Laura.
Similar to the four deployment sites still set up from Hurricane Laura damage in Louisiana, the chaplains in Foley are visiting homeowners that are receiving repairs from Samaritan’s Purse. The two organizations are stationed at the First Baptist Church of Foley, where the RRT’s Mobile Ministry Center (MMC) is serving as a small sanctuary for the community.