Displaying items by tag: tornado

A pastor is praising God for a miraculous outcome after an F1 tornado tore off part of his church’s roof during a worship service. Around 100 people, including young babies, were present at Crossroads Ministries in Finleyville, Pennsylvania, when the tornado hit, but no one experienced significant injuries. The tornado caused the church steeple to fall and part of the roof to be lost. Rev Ken Barner, in a video message to his congregation, detailed the events, noting that his wife Rhonda was leading praise and worship at the time. ‘I witnessed what I would say is a miracle’, Barner said. He emphasised that God's presence was felt throughout the ordeal: ‘The God who stays stayed with us,' he said. Due to the damage, the church could not meet on Sunday but plans to reconvene at another location the following week. Rhonda described the frightening moment when the lights flickered, and she heard a loud noise, followed by shattering glass and breaking windows. Congregant Lynn Michigan called it the scariest experience of her life. The church community seeks prayers as it rebuilds and recovers from the damage.

Mississippi has declared a state of emergency. Rolling Fork has been almost entirely wiped out. Dozens are dead. One man survived after sheltering in his bathtub. The lush farmland surrounding Western Sharkey County is completely untouched, but when you reach Rolling Fork, a rural town with a fifth of the 2,000 families living in poverty, nearly all homes are flattened, and the rest are damaged by  the furious tornado. Trucks were lifted onto houses, trees uprooted, and power lines brought down. The next day dazed survivors could be seen walking around in shock. But soon it was a hive of activity, with clean-up operations and volunteers opening stations to distribute sandwiches and water. Pray for the communities grappling with destroyed homes and possessions, for those in damaged buildings without electricity. Pray for those mourning the dead. Pray for adequate government support to provide homes for the homeless and rebuild the infrastructure.

A miracle story is emerging after a tornado struck Paducah, Kentucky, devastating a church building where forty preschool children and ten church staff were going about their day. The miracle? No one was killed or injured even though the roof was ripped off. As the storm raged around them, they sang songs like ‘Jesus loves me’ and ‘He's got the whole world in his hands’. The church suffered massive damage, but the only room not affected was the one where they were sheltering. By God's grace, they were kept safe. Later, members of the community showed up in droves to help the church begin its recovery efforts.

Violent storms battered Italy, killing at least 11 people. Venice’s St Mark’s Square was inundated and the adjacent basilica had its baptistry totally flooded and its mosaic floors covered by 35 inches (89 cm) of water. ‘The basilica has aged twenty years in just one day, and perhaps I am being overly optimistic about that,’ said the church’s chief administrator. ‘It is becoming ever more difficult for us, and indeed could become impossible for us to repair the damage, especially in an age of climate change.’ Meanwhile, heavy snow in parts of Spain left two mountain hikers missing, and a tornado ravaged Menorca,leaving 38,000 people without power. See