Conway Village Congregational Church

The Conway Village Congregational Church, “Brown Church,” experienced devastating flooding on December 18th, 2023. The lower level of the church received flooding that damaged the heating system, boiler, and Food Pantry/Dinner Bell storage areas. Freezers and refrigerators are no longer operable due to the 2 to 3 feet of water in the Food Pantry storage area. Church offices and meeting rooms were all flooded requiring all carpeting to be removed and drying equipment to be rented to dry the floors and walls. The line to the oil tanks that were housed in the crawl space broke releasing 650 gallons of heating oil. The oil flow was contained to the church crawlspace and the quick actions of the Conway Fire Department and the Department of Environmental Services were able to recapture most of the oil and prevented a potential environmental calamity.

The entire building is currently closed and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Due to the flooding and fumes from the fuel oil, the church is unable to hold worship services or provide Food Pantry or Dinner Bell services to their clientele. Decisions were made to discard food, books, church records other equipment that was not able to be salvaged.

Assessments continue to determine the complete scope of work required to reopen the building. The entire heating and fuel system must be replaced and relocated to meet code requirements. Replacement of carpeting, possible sub flooring and portions of walls is necessary. Eight refrigeration/freezer units need to be replaced for the Food Pantry and Dinner Bell. Additional structural work may be required in the crawlspace. All damaged equipment and oil tanks will need to be removed. We expect the initial costs for on-going emergency actions, cleanup, assessments and temporary fixes to be $100,000.