As Christmas season comes to an end with the celebration of the Epiphany on January 8, some parishioners in the Diocese of Raleigh are still recovering from the effects of Winter Storm Elliott, which arrived on Christmas Eve. Thousands of parishes, homes and businesses in the diocese were without power due to outages caused by Arctic temperatures and high winds combined with surging electricity demand.
The uncommonly strong winter storm that ushered in the Christmas season also resulted in wind damage at several parishes, including Holy Redeemer in Buxton where gale force winds ripped most of the siding off of the parish’s chapel building. Several parishes also had a common but equally unwelcome weather-related challenge: frozen pipes. Several parishes in the eastern part of the diocese, including St. Katherine Drexel Mission in Maple, dealt with frozen pipes – which sometimes lead to bursting pipes and extensive water damage.
In Roanoke Rapids, St. John the Baptist Parish was especially hard hit by this winter-weather hazard. On Christmas Eve, the pastor, Father Marlon Mendietta, was notified by the local fire department of a problem in the parish hall. Pipes had frozen due the cold temperatures and then burst, flooding the entire parish hall. Father Mendietta worked with a disaster cleanup crew to quickly remove the water and humidity and prevent potential mold damage from the influx of water.
“It didn’t help that we also had a heating problem during our Christmas Mass, the largest of the year,” said Father Mendietta. “But our parishioners have been extremely patient and also extremely generous with their help and support.”