South Sacramento Church left with major flood damage in storm

Pastor Les Simmons said volunteers jumped into action to try and help as water rushed into the building.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A church that has historically responded to moments of crisis in their community were dealing with a crisis of their own after heavy rain and flooding left major damage at the South Sacramento Christian Center.

Pastor Les Simmons said they ended up pumping out over 700 gallons of water that flooded their sanctuary floor, forcing him to cancel church service on the first Sunday of the new year.

“You know, our first goal is safety, the safety of our people while they’re here. It was a big deal to cancel the first service of the year,” said Simmons. “We would traditionally come in and set the tone for the rest of the year. It’s a big deal for us to do that.”

During the height of the pandemic, the church served as a COVID-19 testing site. They routinely provide school supplies to kids, and distributed 1,000 meals a week for families in need.

Simmons said it’s made it difficult for them to do some of their good work in the community.

“We’ll get through this, but our ability to weather a storm now and in the future, that’s difficult. We have some repairs to do, and we’re thankful to any partner that would like to partner with us to help us be able to weather a storm like the one we just had,” said Simmons.

Simmons said volunteers jumped into action to try and help as water rushed into the building.

“My dad who drove from Wilton, and as you know Wilton was under an evacuation order and then a shelter in place order, he got in his truck,” said Simmons. “He knew we needed a pump. They drove through the storm late Saturday night, got the pumps connected and helped us pull out a lot of that water.”

With another storm on the way, Simmons said they need your assistance. If you would like to help, you can text SSCC to 916-926-0991.

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