The rain let up for a couple of hours in morning, in time for us to arrive at school. The power was out there. Apparently this happens every time it rains hard, because the power boxes are buried underground, and flood easily.
For some reason, the director decided it would be a good idea to try to hold classes anyway.
It was hot. And humid. (I realized how much of my reason for going to school has to do with air conditioning and Internet access.)
By 9:30, when the rain picked up again, it was also complete pandemonium. The students were wandering the hallways, calling their parents on their cellphones to send their drivers to pick them up. The principal was arbitrarily admonishing some kids, ordering them back to their classrooms, and telling others they could leave.
At 10, when it looked like I'd never make it out if I didn't do something soon, I grabbed my stuff, blurted some excuse to the principal about a sick kid (partly true; E. had stayed home with a cold), grabbed R. from his class, and made a run for the car.
It was probably the worst possible time to try to leave. The road out from the school was a lake. Somehow I made it through (gripping the steering wheel and praying), although the engine made ominous sounds the rest of the way home.
It's rained on and off since then. Today, thankfully, the director saw fit to cancel school.
The forecast is for rain through tomorrow, though. They're also predicting 12-foot swells on Saturday.
Dete somehow made it here this morning, although she said the city is at a standstill. Everything's flooded, and there are neighborhoods which have had no power since Wednesday.
Another interesting thing, several people who've lived in Bahia for thirty years or more have told me that it never used to rain like this, and there were never thunderstorms here, either.
Just another sign of the imminent global weirding apocalypse, I guess.
At least we get a long weekend out of it, though.
All I have for now is the scene outside our front door. I'll try to post some more pictures later, if we make it out of the house.
6 comments:
And there is still no power there, at least, there is no webmail still.
So what did you end up doing with your free day? I turned a terrible salmon colored skirt into a dress and dyed it green and brown. Took me most of the day by trial and error.
It's true there isn't usually thunder and lightning, at least it is for me. It's very exciting when it happens, reminds me of Michigan and makes me a bit homesick. It was also quite amazing for the 3 hours it stopped raining earlier, everything dried up pretty fast in the heat (have we mentioned it this is the hottest summer on record and summer is OVER and it's still hot), and now it's back to that spitting rain over here. Just makes everything wet without you feeling it. I don't think my dress will dry for a few days.
That dress sounds cool.
We didn't do much. E.'s got a fever, and all three boys have a cough, so we just laid low.
I kind of like the weather, too, though. Cool and cozy, almost like what I think of as a real fall.
Wow. No lighting or as we say back home thunderstorms!? I grew up in the mid west too, Indiana (and was born in Michigan). And thunderstorms were a regular occurrence especially in April and the summer months. I remember as a kid in science class the teacher (love you guys) teaching us that the lighting actually helped the nitrogen to be absorbed by the plant life. Heck, as a little kid to hear the rumble of a far off thunder in a spring rain would actually make me fall asleep! Funny, I’ve always thought of lighting and thunder as beautiful.
Boy, it sounds like the lighting and thunder scared the bageebers out of the kids in school. And the construction practices in Brazil?! The electric junction boxes underground! And let me guess, the sewer system sucks too. Reminds me of the time I was in Rio and I noticed the plumbing running from the toilet water cabinet was encased in concrete! And I asked my friend what happens if there’s a leak, and I got this blank look with no answer.
Yes, if there is a leak, you have to break the wall to fix it. Which is why one always buys more tiles than you need to retile your bathroom in case that happens.
I didn't notice any kids being scare of thunder, but my cat is. There wasn't much thunder during the day, it was mostly at night. I kinda run with this theory that the sun warms and kind of kills some of the força and clouds of these storms. They always seem to be much worse at night.
It's strange but fond memories of Singapore came to mind when I read through your post.
Though- it seems like the storm that you experienced was actually far more severe than the storms we get in Singapore! (We've never had canceled classes because of rain before- it sounds like the sky just opened up over you guys).
But, to me, there's something soothing about the sound of rain drumming down all around.
Yes, I love the rain. It's very soothing, and pleasantly cool (at last!).
It may not be more severe than in Singapore, I think it's just that the infrastructure is so much worse-- there's no power and all the roads flood.
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