It is still raining in South Africa and as my wife would say, she always is of that opinion, “It is raining outside.” How grateful am I that it is indeed raining outside. There are how many people who are suffering the degrading circumstances when their homes are flooded – from the outside to the inside.
I had a lovely conversation with my brother-in-law who lives in Wellington,
Western Cape about the weather and the rainfall in his part of the world. He is
a geologist. He tells me that since last Sunday evening when it started raining
in his town, till this morning they had 72mm and it is still drizzling. He is
not aware of any damages or injuries in his town. The Western Cape is in a
winter rainfall area and no rain in summer, and yet it is raining there.
Sutherland, Northern Cape Photo number one
His sister, who lives in Sutherland, Northern Cape, sent him photos she took
of the devastating downpours they had there yesterday – after a seven-year
drought it poured 105mm in a matter of some hours. The connecting road from
their farm house to the main road is destroyed and her husband battles to get
to the tarred road. Places around their homes, that they got used to as being bone
dry, is now a wetland. Next to the house there in now a “river” flowing – that is
what it looks like, but it is not, it was a day or two before the rain, bone-dry
rock-hard soil. In a matter of moments that place was changed to something they
don’t know how to handle. Photo number one shows “a river” which is not a river
but gushing water from a ridge not far from the homestead and number two shows
the area where it came to “rest.” Hours earlier, it was bone dry, hard baked brown
soil.
My one neighbour keeps meticulous records of the precipitation for many,
many years [19 years in Houghton and 19 years in Rivonia]. The average rainfall
for Houghton for 19 years were 142mm and for Rivonia for the last 19 years were
162mm. For the first 12 days in Rivonia, it is 80 mm.
The video is just outside my office. The drizzling is so reassuring and
have a calming effect on me. During the night I woke up with this sound. And I
was praying for the people who were fleeing the storms and who were suffering
as a result of the water flooding their safe places: their homes.
Please write me your story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za
