The Flood!

February 23, 2011

Today was a very memorable day! I went to school in the morning as usual. After classes I usually eat lunch around school or with friends, walk around the city or go sit somewhere then come home. But, today I decided to eat fast and return home shortly after lunch. And, I am glad I did because otherwise I would have missed the FLOOD. Usually, my family drives me to school, then I walk home. It’s 32 blocks, most of the way is down hill, and I pass two parks along the way. So, it’s a very refreshing walk. However, I decided to take the bus today. The weather looked dark as I left school, but wasn’t raining at the moment. My bus ride was about 30 minutes and a little way into the trip it started to rain. Then, it rained harder, then harder. I was so happy to be on a dry bus (well, it was dry after we shut the windows). I got off the bus about 5 blocks from home, then walked the rest of the way. The storm became stronger and stronger and the wind just about killed my umbrella. (I bought an expensive one in Buenos Aires, because my “cheap” one died after two uses. =() However, holding my school bag as close to my face as possible to keep my books and electronics from getting wet, I managed to walk through the rain and wind! Needless to say I was drenched when I arrived home. However, I was not expecting what happened next!!!

Emanuel (the father at the house where I am staying) was running around to secure the doors of the house, as a large river of water rushed downward toward the house. Leti (the mother at the house) was inside disconnecting all the plugs on the floor and moving everything in my room from the floor to higher ground . The drain in the room next to mine (which is about 2 feet by 2 feet and very deep) had been opened and water was rushing in from the back porch. As the drain began to get fuller and fuller, we all went to work on the project. Leti and Emanuel created a barrier to block the water entering the back door and we all began to sweep the water that was already collecting on the floor into the drain. Parts of my room were wet about an inch or 2 deep, but the room in front had 3 or 4 inches of water in places. We kept sweeping, then the drain became full! UH OH! Water was now entering the kitchen and was about 6 or 7 inches deep on the porch. We put as many blockades as we could to the house, including towels and plastic toys, but the water still came in. After half an hour or so the rain stopped, but the porch and house were still flooded. (Thankfully they don’t have carpet here). We then all moved outside and began the project of sweeping the river to higher ground where it could drain into the grass and not flood the house. Mom, Dad, Grandma and I began our task. Then, the 6 year old began to help us! We swept and swept… Then, Leti moved to the house and proceeded to sweep the flooded water out, so the rest of us could move the water outside to a better place. After a while, the task was done! Leti mopped the floors and all returned to normal except for the power being out for hours, and the internet and cable out for days! Kind of reminds me of my last office at Enterprise. Every time a big rain storm came, the computers would not function the next day. Apparently the wires outside were getting wet, but the internet company couldn’t figure out how to fix the problem.

Anyhow, back to the FLOOD story. The crazy part of my day was not finished. Once again, it began to rain hard in the middle of the night. Not as hard as in the day, but still a steady pace. In my semi-comatose state, I awoke and thought I should move all my things again. So, I disconnected the plugs once more and moved all to higher ground. Then, I went back to sleep. The midnight flood never came! In fact, floods are EXTREMELY rare here. This is the desert with irrigation ditches throughout the city. So, I feel privileged to have had this adventure.