Flooding in Verviers - Bonins in Belgium

A small French-speaking Assemblies of God church sits on the bank of the Vesdre river that flows through Verviers, Belgium. This is the church that graciously hosted us at the beginning of our first years of service in Belgium as Missionary Associates from 1995-1997. The Evans family has also been hosting our dog, Sadie, for the last two years while we were blocked in the US and then house-hunting in Belgium. But this past week, our dear friends had to face something they had never seen before: their community ravaged by flooding.

In the early morning hours of Thursday, July 15, someone frantically rang their doorbell, urging them to move their vehicle to higher ground. As retired Pastor Howard Evans was recuperating in their home above the church following his open heart surgery 9 days earlier, and after seeing the flooding in nearby villages the day before, they had kept a close eye on the river but didn’t see an immediate threat. “No!” the young man explained, “the water is coming from the other direction, and coming quickly!” They had no choice but to entrust their car keys to the young man who offered to move their car to an above ground parking lot nearby.

The view of the street in front of the church from an upstairs window the morning of the flood

Within minutes, water came rushing down their street and entered into the church building. Thankfully, the damage was limited to the front Sunday School classroom, part of the garage, and the entire basement, which had up to 2 meters of water. Although there are imminent repairs needed in the basement, the sanctuary was completely untouched! Almost as quickly as the water came in, it receded. It was time to begin the clean up, and more importantly, it was time to see how their church could help their community.

Since the floods, Pastor Sam Evans, son of Howard and Micheline, along with their daughter Sara-Lisa Evans Kmiotek, have been very active on social media, connecting people who have resources with those in need and in organizing cleanup efforts. Their church has also set up a table out front with free coffee, water, and baked goods, opening up opportunities for conversation with neighbors, city workers, and others dropping off supplies or simply passing by. Church members have been working hard each day to clean the flooded areas of the church building. Our family, along with colleagues Joel & Gail VanBriggle, their daughter Emily and friend Jonathan, went to assist with the clean up this week. We were able to help them finish cleaning out the basement, an area that is the size of their sanctuary.