Disaster Update: Southern Tornado Outbreak

Matthew 25: Ministries’ Vice President, Tim Mettey, and two other staff members are currently in Alabama helping with tornado relief. Here are two of the many first-hand accounts he has heard from the people there:

#1: The team’s host family, Jordan and Emily, were both away from home when the tornado struck. Jordan was in class. Emily was working as a nurse at the only hospital in Tuscaloosa. She and her co-workers watched with much anticipation as the tornado headed directly toward them. Luckily, at the last minute, it dodged the hospital.

Within the next 12 hours, 600 patients arrived at the hospital for treatment. Due to the urgency of their situations, the hospital could not take the time to register all of the patients’ real names. Many people were admitted under aliases. However, this made it difficult for loved ones to find them.

#2: In one community, no one heard the sirens. Some say they didn’t go off at all, though this has not been confirmed. Either way, the people were unprepared for the ferocity of the storm. 25 children were playing at the community playground when the tornado hit, and all of them died. Almost all of the houses in this community were flattened, and the families are now struggling to pick up the pieces of their homes and their lives.

View photos of Matthew 25: Ministries' Disaster Relief Team responding to the disaster.

Please pray for the many people who are now trying to recover from this disaster. Matthew 25: Ministries will continue to post updates, photos, and videos from our team as soon as they become available.

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