Surviving the storm (Pt 2 of 3)

THE HURRICANE/THE FLOOD
(Here is an article about Hurricane Emily)

July 2005- We were staying in Monterrey, Mexico as summer staff for Back 2 Back ministries. We lived in a little room behind a house. When I say little, I would say smaller than our living room and we all lived there and had a little fridge and microwave in it. It was very "quaint".:)

About a week before the hurricane was to make landfall, we started getting prepared. We were at the bottom of the mountain so the water just pours down. The staff was very on top of things and they had talked to every staff member and every teenage on their land about what to do.

B and I moved all of our stuff on top of our beds and as high as we could get them. There were shelves in a storage room and so we put the stuff there.

We decided not to sleep in our humble abode in fear that we might get trapped in by the flooding so stayed in a room at the house of the Back 2 Back missionaries.

In the middle of the night, Beth came in and showed us that there was water all over the floor in our room. We woke up and realized their entire house had water in it. They lived sort of at the bottom of the hill. The flooding water had oil in it (picked up from who knows where). Their furniture/rugs were being destroyed by the minute so they were trying to pick everything up off the ground.

We were able to walk outside and just see what looked like a river going through their yard. We could not get to where we were staying due to the rushing water. The people in the house next to us had part of their house washed away. I will never forget the lady screaming as water poured through her house and broke her fence.

The next day everyone around us was without power. For some reason, most of the Back 2 Back facility had power. The staff made as much food as they could and we walked around door to door handing out food. Merrick (who was 5 at the time) and Ethan (who was 3) handed out candy to the kids we saw. All the families were so appreciative of the hot meal that was delivered to them. It was a nice bright point to the entire experience.

When we finally made it back to our room, we could see the line on the wall of where the water had been. They had tile floors in there so really the only thing that needed cleaning was the walls so they wouldn't mold.

I don't ever want to be in a hurricane again- but I do know that was such a huge bonding experience for all of us in Monterrey at the time.