The Flood

[Jim]

It didn't rain when we were in Butuan but on the bus trip from Manila to Olongapo, we noticed several normally nearly dry rivers full of water. This was a little strange since the rainy season appeared to have ended in mid August.

There are rivers directly to the east and west of Santa Monica and the one on the west spills it's banks occasionally but the water never reaches our street in the eastern part of SM. Well Tuesday morning I woke up to a flooded street. I drove Mitch to school [which was canceled] and barely made it out of the near lake. Returning, I parked on the national highway and waded home. The water was over my knees in some places.

We went shopping later [wading oot to the Ntl Hwy and the car] and when we returned the Philippine Coast Guard had rafts and gave us a ride home. Tuesday morniong the water had reached our porch but receded to the street during the day. Well Tuesday night, Grace wok us up and the water had risen, flooding our living room [thank goodness we have tile and not carpet]. This morning the flood appears to be over except for a very muddy living room and porch.

Also electricity went out Tuesday morning and hasn't been fixed so I'm at my favorite beachside resort swilling coffee and using their electricity and internet. I guess in the sceme of thing, everyone's natural disasters should be as harmless as this one.

[Benjio]

Damn Jim! I feel you man. Living in Houston teaches you to deal with flooding. Six inches worth of rain from a summer thunder storm greatly limits the ability to drive the city's streets. Tropical Storms and Hurricanes can disable Southeast Texas for weeks. One of the biggest bayous in the city runs through my neighborhood and when it overflows there aren't any levees to hold it back.

In June of 2001, tropical storm Allison absolutely devastated the Houston area. Tropcial Storms can be a lot worse than Hurricanes. Hurricanes have momentum. They keep moving relatively quickly even after they make landfall. When a tropical storm goes over land, it generally slows down significantly and dumps dozens of inches of water on everything in its path. Luckily my house was built on very high ground, but that year I watched most of my neighborhood float away from my porch. The City of Houston is still working on a water drainage project in response to Allison.

Barranquilla has a horrible flooding problem. The city has no drainage system whatsoever. It's actually kind of hard to believe because of the average yearly rain fall, but in the entire history of the city no one ever thought of a way to get rid of all that water. I know the history of Barranquilla and why a lot of what you'd expect to have in city that size doesn't exist there, but all these years have passed and no one's trying to do anything about it. Gotta love Colombia!

[Sailover]

And here in Cali they are talking drought! There hasn't been any significant rain in months and some of the western barrios are already under water restrictions. Each day the storms get closer, but so far, it is as dry as Bond's martini. (and with the last quake, we were shaken, not stirred)