It should have been a quiet July Sunday morning. People throughout southern West Virginia were going to church or Sunday school. Others were "sleeping in" or planning outdoor activities since there was only a slight chance of thunderstorms.

Instead, one of the worst storms ever to hit the region dumped up to eight inches of rain in less than five hours on July 15. Small, meandering streams became rushing torrents. People found themselves trapped by rapidly rising, churning, muddy water.

"We are alive. The community is practically destroyed" is part of the message on the Rev. Hilda Kennedy's home answering machine. Ms. Kennedy, program coordinator of the Highland Educational Project (HEP) and pastor of the Episcopal Community Church at the HEP facility, has been instrumental in first response efforts in the Keystone and Northfork communities of McDowell County. She and HEP lay administrator Don Lester have ensured that three hot meals a day have been available for 300-500 residents who have lost practically everything in the flood waters. "We are serving food 24 hours a day," Ms. Kennedy told FEMA site coordinators during a walking tour with diocesan representatives. The Rt. Rev. Charles Vaché, assisting bishop in the Diocese of West Virginia, presented Ms. Kennedy with a check for $3,000 and told her that a request had been made to the Episcopal Relief and Development fund.

Ms. Kennedy related her experience of the flood that morning. She had finished a service at St. Luke's, Welch, and was on her way back to the Community Church at HEP. "By the time church was over, life had changed as we knew it. I was personally stranded trying to get home. During that episode, I was trying to help evacuate about 75 people from mobile homes. The mobile homes were washing away right before our eyes. A tree fell down and live power lines were in the water. People didn't want to leave their homes. They were petrified with fear. I was wading in waist-deep water. I had to tell them, 'Guys, you're gonna die if you stay here.' They were afraid to get in the water. They were paralyzed."

When they were evacuated, the people gathered on the water's edge along Rte. 52, the only main road into McDowell County. "We just all began a wonderful time of praise and prayer. I had about 12-15 people standing there and we just started to pray and sing 'alleluia.' I know that sounds goofy but that's what happened. At that point there was nothing to do but watch it happen. It seemed to calm them to sing."

Flood damage spared some Episcopal churches, but did great damage at others. "Mullens is a mess," Bishop Vaché stated, referring to St. Andrew's, Mullens. The church structure suffered extensive flood damage. "There was four feet of water in the church and the floor buckled in the middle. The pews slid outward, crashing into the walls and tearing off plaster."

St. Luke's, Welch, had no water or mud but the basement at Grace Church, Northfork, was full of mud. HEP's basement had about four feet of water, and the basement of Ms. Kennedy's home was full of mud.

"This Episcopal Church is something else," Ms. Kennedy said. "The church has been able to mobilize resources here at HEP so rapidly and with such quantity that we can run a major resource center at a moment's notice. The only thing we've gotten outside of our immediate resources has been water from the county. HEP has been self-sufficient."

(The Rev.) Elizabeth A. Walker