PENDLETON — No one could blame Dane Creger for looking slightly dazed.

Extreme flooding earlier this month left Creger’s Riverside home a sodden mess, and he and his wife, Candice, in shock. That morning, a dozen volunteers wearing orange Samaritan’s Purse shirts showed up at the home to remove drenched insulation, carpet, Sheetrock and paneling and to clean up flood debris in the yard.

It was surreal, but in a good way.

Creger’s memory of early-morning Feb. 7 is still fresh. That’s when the Umatilla River shape-shifted from its normally placid state into a raging, rising monster that breached its banks and wreaked havoc around the county.

Creger came home from his graveyard shift about 3 a.m., and by 5 a.m. he was helping pile sandbags to staunch the flow into the neighborhood. When the water found another route, residents fled. Water rose to a couple of feet outside and several inches inside the Cregers’ home. A layer of mud covered the floor, and water soaked into the Sheetrock.

“We spent days and days mopping up the mud,” Creger said.

This week, a semitruck and trailer bearing the name Samaritan’s Purse pulled into town with a cadre of volunteers. They parked and prepared to help flood victims muck out and gut their homes. Volunteers haul away yard debris, remove insulation, paneling and Sheetrock, pull up flooring and generally get the house down to the studs and subfloor. Before leaving, they spray a coating of an antimicrobial substance called Shockwave to inhibit mold growth.

The nondenominational Christian disaster relief organization headed by evangelist Franklin Graham responds to disasters around the world. Todd Taylor, U.S. disaster relief manager for Samaritan’s Purse, who is running the Umatilla County operation, said the organization started responding to disasters in 1998. In recent years, volunteers responded to Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, the Australian wildfires, the 2018 Camp Fire in California and others. This is the group’s first West Coast flood response.

By the time the team finishes, homes are ready for restoration. Taylor said the services are free to disaster victims, who are never asked for donations.

“We are completely funded by private donations,” said Taylor, who hails from North Carolina.

Also in Pendleton this week is Ray Thompson, a chaplain with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Rapid Response Team, which often teams with Samaritan’s Purse. Thompson said he and fellow chaplains respond to tornadoes, mass shootings, explosions, fires, floods and snowstorms. Chaplains worked mass shootings in Paris and Newtown, Connecticut, the tsunami in Japan, the earthquake in Haiti and other disasters.

“The thread that runs through all of these is loss,” Thomas said. “As humans, we insulate ourselves from disaster so when it comes we really don’t know what to do. It’s almost paralyzing.”

After 34 years with the Los Angeles Fire Department and 14 with the rapid response team, Thomas knows disaster. At first, he listens carefully to let victims know he cares. He tells them the despair they are feeling is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. He helps them realize there is a tomorrow. If they are spiritual, he goes there. If not, he doesn’t push it.

“I don’t get them in a headlock and read tracts to them,” he said, grinning.

At the Cregers’ home on Tuesday, six or seven volunteers worked inside. Others worked on the yard. Nevada volunteer Cal Payton shoveled soggy leaves and other debris into a wheelbarrow. The retired wildland firefighter is a veteran Samaritan’s Purse volunteer who believes the mission fits his beliefs and brings him in contact with some amazing people.

“I meet some of the best people in the United States,” he said, “Beyond that, I do it to serve my Lord Jesus Christ. He calls us to help others.”

At lunchtime, the group moved to another home in the nearby Riverview Mobile Home Estates, ate sack lunches from the Salvation Army, and then circled up for prayer. Then, several of them donned Tyvek suits and wriggled underneath the home to remove waterlogged insulation.

Local residents, including youth groups, are helping the regular volunteers. Requests for help, though fewer than anticipated, continue to come in as homeowners learn about the group.

Creger counted his blessings as he surveyed the scene at his house.

“This has been a great relief.”