Helping Amid
the Storms

Dear Friend,

Entire towns disappeared and dozens of lives were lost when ferocious tornadoes tore across the Southeast and Midwest in the first two weeks of spring.

My wife, Jane Austin, and I went to Mississippi to pray with survivors, to meet with local leaders, and to see how Samaritan's Purse can help. Meanwhile, we deployed five of our disaster relief units to storm-stricken towns from Arkansas to Indiana. It seems like Tornado Alley has become an expressway, with more than 300 twisters reported this year. Our teams have helped in three locations in Mississippi (Rolling Fork, Silver City, and Amory), two in Arkansas (Little Rock and Wynne), two in Tennessee (Covington and Savannah), as well as in Indiana (Sullivan County) and Oklahoma (Shawnee). At the same time, we also deployed teams to help flood victims in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Earlier this year, we responded to tornadoes in Alabama (Selma) and Georgia (Griffin).

In Rolling Fork and Silver City, I was struck not only by the awful devastation, but also by the resolute spirit of the survivors. These are stouthearted, hardworking folks who care about their neighbors and live out the values Jesus taught in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Most people I met are determined to rebuild their homes and communities—rather than be wiped off the map. Neighbors and Samaritan's Purse volunteers worked for weeks to clean up debris and make emergency repairs. Yet many houses are beyond repair or completely gone. Samaritan's Purse is committed to helping families start over by providing hundreds of reinforced, well-anchored mobile homes for homeowners who were uninsured.

The tornado that devastated Rolling Fork and Silver City was rated EF4, with 170 mph winds that left a 60-mile scar across the Mississippi Delta. It was the deadliest tornado in Mississippi in more than 50 years. That's the same intensity as the twister that destroyed Mayfield, Kentucky, just before Christmas in 2021—where Samaritan's Purse is still working to rebuild houses.

The tornado struck Rolling Fork at sunset on Friday, March 24, just 20 minutes after a tornado warning was declared. Tracy Harden was working in her dairy bar when the lights flickered and she realized the storm was approaching. She hustled everyone into the cooler just as the roof was ripped off the restaurant. God used that cooler to save the lives of nine people, as it was the only part of the building not swept away. In spite of all that she has lost, she told me that she believes Rolling Fork will recover. "We lost a lot of friends," she said. "We are grieving and hurting, but we've just got to get through that and we'll come back."

The Mississippi Delta is home to some of our nation's richest farmland, yet these are among America's poorest counties, based on per-capita income. Most of the tornado victims were uninsured, and now they've lost what little they had. Right now, they need their neighbors in the Christian community to help them recover.

We are so thankful for our volunteers. Our disaster relief ministry wouldn't be possible without them. I met one couple who came from Illinois on their 45th deployment with Samaritan's Purse over the past 12 years.

ON THE GROUND: The majority of Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) members go to care for people devastated by the disaster; however, member care chaplains hold a different role...