VIRGINIA – Operation Blessing has served the community of East Oceanview for over twenty years alongside of New Life Christian Center and Pastor Ken Gerry. As I woke up early this morning and looked at my phone, there was a message from a friend letting me know that East Oceanview was already flooding.

Water was already up to the doors and one single mom was sweeping the water out while trying to care for her small children. I called Pastor Ken after our morning briefing and then our team headed out to check on the residents, encourage them to evacuate, and offer sand bags to help protect their homes. The majority of residents in East Oceanview are very poor and don’t have much, so it is hard for them to leave everything they own behind – even if it is not much.

As we walked though the community, Norfolk firefighters were going door-to-door encouraging residents to leave because they believe the “worst is yet to come.” High tide tonight and in the morning is projected to extensively flood this low-income community. For those residents choosing to stay behind, we gave them the number to the evacuation shelters so that if they changed their mind they could call them. As long as they did not wait too late, the shelters would send a bus to pick them up.

Just taking time to provide sand bags and walk through the community offered a lot of comfort and encouragement to the residents. Our prayers are with them tonight…