38 Days

"Mostly cloudy with numerous showers and thunderstorms. Locally heavy rainfall possible."

This has been our typical weather forecast for over a month now. So far rainfall has caused a dam failure that killed 7 people, contributed to several fatal traffic accidents, caused numerous floods, washed away a number of homes, caused lots of road closures, sent 12 utility poles crashing down smashing cars and closing a major highway, and a couple of nasty sewage spills. And we had two tornadoes!! Other minor problems already starting statewide include an increase in mosquito populations, some heavy mold problems, and some depressed "SAD" people.

Generally speaking, I like rain. I especially enjoy listening to a heavy rain when I am warm and cuddled in my house and I know my family safe. In really heavy rains, I'll still go out and jump in puddles (this is much more fun when Jake and Laura are here).

But 38 days of rain is a lot! I really feel sorry for any tourists who spent all their savings to come to a tropical island and end up with a tropical rainforest.

On the other hand, we now have clear evidence that we live in one of the best locations on the island. We are out of the flood zone, tsunami zone, and we've so far avoided the waterspouts. An emergency alert came on the radio the other day and started listing all the cities on flash flood watch, and they pretty much covered the whole island except for us! We're on a bit of a plateau, so whatever rain we get mostly drains off of us and dumps into gulches on either side.

So many of the beautiful ocean-view & mountain-view homeowners were either unable to get to their homes at all or were having to wade through 2 feet of water in their yards when they get there. The really unlucky ones have 2-3 feet of water in their living rooms, too. It was so sad to watch the news and see a half-submerged fridge with ketchup bottles floating past, and once-gorgeous living rooms with the tops of sofas just peeking out of the water like shy little hippos. People with homes near streams have lost big pieces of their yards (one with a spectacular scene of a patio table, with umbrella, falling into a raging river). People up against hillsides or mountains have had mudslides come through their homes or huge boulders come rolling down at them.

The state also got a healthy lesson in appreciating the power of God in nature when we heard accounts of how fast the water flooded homes...so quick they didn't have time rescue anything from the water and were lucky to escape with their lives. Saddest of all was what happened with the dam break, where several occupied houses were annihilated so thoroughly that you can't even figure out where their foundations once stood, and 4 of the occupants still haven't been found.

I think I'll read the story of Noah's Ark to the boy tomorrow. When I was a little girl it was always comforting to me because it reminded me that God is in control, for better or for worse. If He can flood the whole earth, He can also stop it whenever He wants. The boy is way too young to grasp all that, but the heavy rain part is at least something he'll understand right now.