If you have seen our posts on Facebook or heard any of our comments recently, you can probably guess that we’ve been getting a lot of rain. And I mean A LOT of rain!! We’ve gotten over 12 inches since Sunday, and it’s still raining at the moment. While we are a little cold and damp, we are ok, but how I wish I could say that for the rest of Guatemala. Allow me to explain…
In an article posted yesterday, the report said that 15 people have been killed in Guatemala because of the recent rains. I have heard other reports that said up to 19 people have been killed, all because of the rain. Some have drowned, others have been covered by the mudslides, but no matter what caused the deaths, there have been deaths.
Or, in this article, which was posted on Wednesday, it gave a few more specific statistics. According to this website (which is now a few days old), 130 thousand people have been affected by the rains, 2,660 people have suffered damages, 3,546 people are in shelters and 346 houses have been damaged. These statistics have likely risen by quite a bit now, since we have gotten another 5 inches (or so) since these reports.
Guatemala isn't the only country that has been hit with this "Tropical Depression," Mexico and El Salvador have also been slammed. It has been said that Guatemala has been hit the hardest so far though. Supposedly we can expect another 36-48 hours of rain yet...
It hit me the other day how often I find myself complaining about the rain when I really have no right to. “Oh man, I’m just cold!” (But I have a fireplace, what about thousands of others?) “Shoot, the roof is leaking again!” (Overall our house is dry, what about the thousands of people that no longer have houses?!) “I just don’t feel like anything is drying out!” (Then again, I do have changes of clothing that are dry-ish, do others have even another change of clothing?) “Oops, there goes the electric flashing again, man that’s annoying!” (I actually HAVE electric! That’s a huge blessing!!)
So please, if you think about it, pray for Guatemala (and other countries) with all this rain. Pray for the authorities as they figure out what the best thing to do is and for the workers as they continue to clear up the mudslides and everything else. Pray for safety for our family as we continue to drive in this craziness and whatever else might come up. And finally, pray for some sun, SOON!!!! J
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| One of the newspapers, 17,000 victims from the rains. |
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| Mudslides have shut down entire routes to some areas. |
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| Large rocks make traffic challenging. |
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| Lots of water! |
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| This was very close to our church, made a (normally) 20 minute drive into 2 hours. |
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| Roads giving way |
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