[Posted today after the rain stopped temporarily and the electricity came back on. Yey!]
It's raining. The kind of rain that lasted for 4 days in November and dumped over 30 inches of water during that time. The kind of rain that washes out the roads and traps you on one side of an overflowing river. The kind of rain that drenches you in less time than it takes to write this sentence. Last night it began and I was on call. I had tried to insist that I could walk to the hospital if I needed to go in during the night (it's only 7 minutes downhill). Fortunately, the more experienced missionaries disagreed and one of them loaned me his vehicle. When I went in to see a patient around 2am and the rain had started I was very glad for the vehicle.
It's raining. The kind of rain that lasted for 4 days in November and dumped over 30 inches of water during that time. The kind of rain that washes out the roads and traps you on one side of an overflowing river. The kind of rain that drenches you in less time than it takes to write this sentence. Last night it began and I was on call. I had tried to insist that I could walk to the hospital if I needed to go in during the night (it's only 7 minutes downhill). Fortunately, the more experienced missionaries disagreed and one of them loaned me his vehicle. When I went in to see a patient around 2am and the rain had started I was very glad for the vehicle.
Today was going to be a town day. Megan and I were running very low on food and she had all the measurements ready for the fabric we needed to buy to spruce up my house. We hopped in the van with the family giving us a ride, drove off towards town, and pulled up to a section of road that had a torrent of water rushing over it. We waited for awhile for some reassurance in the form of another vehicle crossing first. A truck pulled up to the other side, guys hopped out and looked at it, then got in the truck and turned around. They drove back up about 10 minutes later, this time with another vehicle backing them up, and forged across. With this encouragement, we drove across too. We got most of our errands done in town- SIM card for my phone, fabric at the fabric store (I needed some hand-holding there; it was a bit overwhelming and I'm told this was a small store on the scale of fabric stores), thread at another little store, fruit from some stands, and finally our major grocery shopping at the big new modern grocery store. While at the grocery store we got a call from another missionary who was stuck between the town and the hospital at one of the low spots in the road that was now covered with water. After many phone calls and much discussion, we decided to try to make it anyway. When we arrived at the low spot, darkness was falling, but we had been told there was now only 6 inches of water in it, which proved to be true.
Apparently a lot of the road and river floods are dependent on what is happening up in the mountains, both with how much rain they get but also the level of deforestation. There are roads washing out here that have never been a problem before because trees are being clear cut in the jungle further up in the mountains. It is crazy to see the tangible evidence of what this does right before your very eyes.
We got home to the power still being off (it had gone off in the early morning) and were assessing what we could actually make for dinner which did not involve opening the refrigerator or using the microwave when there was a knock on the door. Our next door neighbor asked if we'd like to come over for fresh baked bread and homemade chowder. It did not take any fake enthusiasm to accept that invitation rapidly. We ran next door through the heavy rain and enjoyed a lovely candlelit dinner.
Today we heard that the road that we drove on last night had washed out about 15 minutes away from us. This is what it looks like now. Adventure!
Apparently a lot of the road and river floods are dependent on what is happening up in the mountains, both with how much rain they get but also the level of deforestation. There are roads washing out here that have never been a problem before because trees are being clear cut in the jungle further up in the mountains. It is crazy to see the tangible evidence of what this does right before your very eyes.
We got home to the power still being off (it had gone off in the early morning) and were assessing what we could actually make for dinner which did not involve opening the refrigerator or using the microwave when there was a knock on the door. Our next door neighbor asked if we'd like to come over for fresh baked bread and homemade chowder. It did not take any fake enthusiasm to accept that invitation rapidly. We ran next door through the heavy rain and enjoyed a lovely candlelit dinner.
Today we heard that the road that we drove on last night had washed out about 15 minutes away from us. This is what it looks like now. Adventure!
