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NAMB activated 48 more of its mobile kitchens for Rita—"virtually every kitchen in Southern Baptist fleet," said the NAMB's Jim Burton.

Gary Smith of Texas Baptist Men said that back-to-back disasters created additional stress on his organization, "but it's not like we haven't done it before," he said. Smith estimated that Texas Baptist Men has trained 20,000 volunteers since the December 26 Asian tsunami—training that's mandatory for all volunteers. Many who have stepped forward to work with his organization have been necessarily turned away because they aren't trained.

"This always happens whenever we have large disasters," Smith said. "It's so important for people to prepare ahead of time for the disaster." Training is crucial to what they do when disaster strikes. "We'd love to have new people join us, but we have to maintain our standards," Smith said.

As for the Coles in Pasadena, Texas, Rita knocked out land-line and cellular phone service when it came ashore early Saturday. But cell phone text messaging still worked, and an e-mail from Shelly Cole's cell phone read, "We are OK."

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Our full coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath includes news, interviews, an editorial, and other articles.

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September (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49