After a slow, two-day journey across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Hurricane Wilma rushed through lower Florida in seven hours on Monday causing at least another six deaths.

|TOP|The storm's death toll is currently at 25 and power outages have affected 6 million people including Evangelical Covenant churches in the West Palm Beach area, reported Kurt Miericke, superintendent of the Southeast Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

Landing on Florida's southwest corner as a Category 3 storm early morning, Wilma whipped across Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach on the Atlantic Coast and has moved offshore into the open Atlantic.

With Wilma on a course that is unlikely to have much effect on the East Coast, disaster response teams have begun assessing the damage to coordinate appropriate relief mobilisation.

Pastors of United Methodist congregations reported churches and neighborhoods fared better than expected, especially in comparison to the damage caused by Hurricane Charley last year.

"We were blessed by having a relatively fast hurricane," said Bob Ladner, disaster coordinator for the South East District, according to the United Methodist News Service.

The extent of the storm’s devastating effects, however, is yet to be fully determined as power outages and orders to stay indoors made communication difficult.

In the meantime, Southern Baptist disaster relief teams from various states have staged 10 kitchens at Lake Yale with relief units in other parts of the nation on standby.

The North American Mission Board is collaborating with the Red Cross, The Salvation Army and the Florida Baptist Convention to assess areas that are of greatest need.

While fatigue may factor in after having worked with two other major hurricanes – Katrina and Rita – new volunteers have been trained to meet the needs of what Wilma left behind.

"We'll be calling on our volunteers, through the state conventions, to step it up another notch for Wilma," said Jim Burton, director of volunteer mobilisation for NAMB, according to the Baptist Press.

More than 7,000 volunteers representing 41 state Baptist conventions have been coordinated for disaster relief work since Katrina.

Southern Baptists are looking to an unprecedented mark of surpassing the provision of 10 million meals.

"That is clearly unprecedented, and reason for each of us to pause and give thanks to God for the amazing opportunity given to Southern Baptists through disaster relief ministry," said Burton.

Hurricane Wilma is the 21st storm of the 2005 season and the eighth hurricane to strike Florida in 15 months. A record-breaking 22nd named storm, Tropical Storm Alpha, formed off the Atlantic Saturday and moved across Haiti, the Dominican Republic and into the Atlantic before weakening into a tropical depression.






Audrey Barrick
Christian Today Correspondent