By Wally Kennedy
Globe Staff Writer
MIAMI, Okla. —
On Monday, when it appeared that Mother Nature would unleash nasty weather, city officials in Miami turned to a heavenly ally.
They called on the city’s Emergency 911 prayer group for divine intervention.
That group was activated at 8:35 a.m., when city officials learned that the town faced a good chance of being hit by a severe thunderstorm — and possibly worse — Monday night.
“We don’t pray for it to hit anybody else,” said Glenna Longan, Miami’s emergency management coordinator. “We just want it to dissipate so nobody is hurt.”
Longan came up with the idea after Miami was repeatedly battered by severe weather in recent years. There have been near-record floods, and crippling ice, snow and wind storms.
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It was enough to make even the most hardhearted get religion.
The idea was embraced by Huey Long, who became Miami’s city manager two years ago. His view was that it couldn’t hurt and might actually help, though some have questioned whether the city might be challenged on the issue of church-state separation.
Longan said: “You need to always be prepared in both the secular and spiritual sense. You don’t know what will happen. The people in this group think God’s got to do something because he’s on the line now.”
Longan said nine churches in Miami and one in Afton are participating in the prayer group. Several denominations are represented.
She said the prayer group’s efforts appear to be working in that Miami has not been hit by a severe storm since the group’s inception.
The group could be busy this week.
Severe weather, including the possibility of long-track supercell thunderstorms, tornadoes and flooding, is possible for at least the next two days and could continue through the end of the week.
Doug Cramer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service forecast office in Springfield, Mo., said a warm front will set up over Missouri and Kansas.
“The warm front will kind of hang out and meander through the area all week long,” he said. “It will be a lot more humid, and that leads to instability, an ingredient for severe thunderstorms for several days this week.”
The front, which is moving northward, is expected to move back and forth across southern Missouri and Kansas. That will create the potential for flooding in areas that see repeated thunderstorms.
“We’ll have abundant Gulf moisture over or just north of us,” Cramer said. “The front will have strong winds with it and wind shear. We cannot rule out supercells later in the week.”
Spreading the word
The Emergency 911 prayer group also has one other objective.
“It’s a way to get prepared and spread the message in the community that severe weather is possible,” said Glenna Longan, Miami’s emergency management coordinator.
