Typhoon Buffets Philippines, Floods Hit Washington

When Typhoon Mike hit the Philippines early in November, one Church member was killed, one injured, and more than fourteen hundred LDS families saw their homes damaged or destroyed.

In the northwestern United States, heavy rains in Washington brought flooding on the weekend of November 24, and more than forty LDS families were among those forced out of their homes.

In the Philippines, more than one hundred people died as a result of the typhoon; many of them were aboard ships that sunk in Cebu Harbor.

Property damage was extensive, and thousands of Filipinos were evacuated from their homes. The storm, with winds reaching 175 miles per hour, battered the islands of Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Negros, and Panay in the central Philippines, as well as the Palau Islands.

Reports on damage to Church property were still coming in weeks after the storm, but at least nine meetinghouses received minor to moderate damage. The Cebu mission home, vacant and up for sale, suffered extensive damage.

Temporary evacuation centers were established in at least fourteen LDS meetinghouses. These centers housed a total of approximately two hundred families, many of them people of other faiths.

Immediately following the storm, local priesthood leaders went to work distributing food to members where it was needed and organizing work crews to help in cleanup efforts.

Leaders reported that many of the fourteen hundred damaged or destroyed homes belonging to members were small structures made of native materials and can be replaced quickly. Nevertheless, many members will need help from the government or the Church to rebuild or make repairs.

In western Washington state, heavy rains brought flooding just after Thanksgiving. It was reported that twenty rivers overflowed their banks, five of them setting all-time high-water marks. More than three thousand people left their homes because of the flooding.

Among them were more than forty LDS families from the Mt. Vernon Washington, Marysville Washington, Renton Washington, and Renton Washington North stakes.

Most of them were back in their homes or had moved to new locations within two weeks. Some of those returning to their homes still faced major repairs or cleanup jobs.

There was no reported damage to Church property, but a leased storehouse in Mt. Vernon was flooded. Volunteers moved commodities in the storehouse to a higher level, however, preventing flood damage to the items in storage.

The needs of members whose property was damaged were largely met locally, without calling on Church assistance. But mattresses were sent by the Church to a few families in the Renton North stake.

During the flooding, Latter-day Saints joined thousands of others in their communities in sandbagging and other efforts to control the rising waters, as well as in rescuing people who were stranded. Following the flooding, LDS volunteers helped fellow Church members clean out their damaged homes, then extended their efforts to others in their communities as needed.

President R. Bruce Merrell of the Renton North stake sent a crew of one hundred volunteers to help members in the hard-hit Snoqualmie Valley and North Bend ward areas. The volunteers extended their help to people of other faiths as well. “People in the area were just overwhelmed by the willingness of members to help,” President Merrell said.

Damage to farmland and other property was extensive. Local priesthood leaders reported that there are long-range plans for LDS volunteers to help members of the community with continuing cleanup efforts after floodwaters have fully receded.

Floodwaters ran into homes on Fir Island, near Mt. Vernon, Washington. (Photo by Betsy Ruble.)