Churches and Christian relief groups move into the Florida Panhandle after Hurricane Isaias
Hurricane Isaias came ashore near Destin, Florida, as a Category 2 storm and has been linked to at least four deaths. Samaritan's Purse is sending volunteers, United Methodists are tallying damaged churches, and Southern Baptist feeding teams are on standby.
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Churches and Christian relief groups began organizing cleanup and aid in the western Florida Panhandle over the weekend after Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, around 8:30 p.m. local time Friday, Oct. 9. It was a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds, according to the National Hurricane Center, NPR reported. The storm brought about 5 feet of storm surge and knocked down trees and power lines in Florida and Alabama.
At least four deaths have been linked to the storm, two in Florida's Escambia County and two in Alabama, NPR and the Associated Press reported. More than 390,000 customers in Florida and Alabama were still without power on Sunday morning, according to NPR. It was the first hurricane to strike Florida in two years, the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network said.
Samaritan's Purse, the Christian relief organization led by Franklin Graham, said it was sending a Disaster Relief Unit, a tractor-trailer of tools and equipment, from Texas. Volunteer teams will begin cutting fallen trees and clearing debris on Monday, Oct. 12, the group said. Its host is Immanuel Baptist Church in Pace, Florida, and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's Rapid Response Team is joining the deployment, Samaritan's Purse said.
The Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church said on Oct. 10 that all of its clergy were safe. Several churches in the Destin, Navarre and Mary Esther areas had roof and window damage, and a church in the Dothan, Alabama, area lost stained-glass windows. First United Methodist churches in Dothan and Pensacola will host volunteer response teams in the coming weeks. The conference asked volunteers not to go into affected areas on their own, and directed people who need cleanup help to the Crisis Cleanup Hotline at 800-451-1954.
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams from Alabama and Florida, working with the Southern Baptist ministry Send Relief, prepared ahead of landfall for possible mass feeding operations, Baptist Press reported. "The most important thing we are doing is praying," said David Coggins, Florida's state disaster-relief leader.
Sources
NPR: At least 4 deaths attributed to Isaias after hurricane bashes Florida and Alabama (Oct 10, 2026)
https://www.npr.org/2026/10/10/g-s1-147632/at-least-2-deaths-attributed-to-isaias-after-hurricane-bashes-florida-and-alabamaArchived copyThe Associated Press: Isaias moves north toward Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic (Oct 11, 2026)
https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-isaias-flooding-power-outages-e1fc35b66ff106211e287dc88b6a8d1aFlorida Public Radio Emergency Network: Hurricane Isaias: By the numbers (Oct 11, 2026)
https://www.fpren.org/2026-10-11/hurricane-isaias-by-the-numbersSamaritan’s Purse: Samaritan's Purse Deploying to Florida Following Hurricane Isaias Landfall (Oct 9, 2026)
https://www.samaritanspurse.org/article/prepared-to-respond-to-hurricane-isaias/Archived copyAlabama-West Florida Conference: The Aftermath of Hurricane Isaias, October 10 (Oct 10, 2026)
https://www.awfumc.org/newsdetail/20033988Baptist Press: Disaster Relief moves into place as Isaias landfall approaches (Oct 9, 2026)
https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/disaster-relief-moves-into-place-as-isaias-landfall-approaches/
Corrections and updates
- Update, October 11, 2026: Brief prepared from NPR (page datePublished Oct. 10, 2026; the sheet says it was updated Oct. 11), the Associated Press (Oct. 11), the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network (page datePublished Oct. 11, 2026), Samaritan's Purse (the sheet dates it Oct. 9, updated Oct. 10), the Alabama-West Florida Conference (the page title is October 10; no datePublished was found), and Baptist Press (Oct. 9). One-off; no threadId. The sheet date is Oct. 10, so sourcePublishedAt is 2026-10-10. The brief is in the Oct. 11 edition. Tags are us, church-life, and protestant. No persecution tag. An Oct. 11 Wayback snapshot is linked for NPR. An Oct. 9 snapshot is linked for Samaritan's Purse. No prior snapshot was found for the Associated Press, the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network, the Alabama-West Florida Conference, or Baptist Press. No photo.