Army offering services in flooded Florida Panhandle

Salvation Army disaster relief teams are serving food and beverages in the Florida Panhandle after slow-moving Hurricane Sally made landfall Wednesday morning, dumping more than two feet of rain in the area and causing severe flooding and power outages.

Twelve canteens from the Florida Division are providing service in Pensacola, as well as in Panama City and Fort Walton Beach. Also, the Arkansas-Oklahoma Division has dispatched five canteens from Bartlesville, Lawton and Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as from Fayetteville and Fort Smith, Arkansas. AOK also sent crews from Chickasha and Oklahoma City to serve in the relief effort. The Kentucky-Tennessee Division's Clarksville, Tennessee, canteen has also joined in the relief effort.

More than 100,000 residents in Escambia County and 30,000 in Santa Rosa County are without power, and flooding has forced the closing of sectors of Interstate 10, the major east-west artery in the Florida Panhandle and Gulf Coast area.

The Salvation Army is partnering with Florida Southern Baptist Disaster Relief to provide up to 12,000 meals a day at the Hillcrest Baptist Church in Pensacola. SBDR is doing the meal preparation, and the Army is handling distribution of the food.

The best way to support The Salvation Army's disaster relief effort is through financial donations. Checks may be mailed to The Salvation Army, P.O. Box 1959, Atlanta, GA 30301 and should be designated Hurricane Season 2020 Disaster Relief or the name of the hurricane. Online donations may be made at helpsalvationarmy.org, and phone donations may be made at 1-800-SAL-ARMY.