Flood!

This morning we woke up at about 3:00am to the sound of rain pounding against the windows.  It had rained a significant amount the day before, so the ground was already quite drenched.  We were not surprised to find that the electricity was out when we got up in the morning.  Andrew left early for work (not much to do at home without hot water or Internet) in hopes that the generator might be working at the office.  I stayed home, since I'm still sick and supposed to be resting.  We hoped that the rain would stop soon because we were expecting guests on the afternoon plane, and because Musoma has a dirt runway, the plane skips landing here if it is very wet.

The rain only got harder and I started to become concerned about the drips coming from the ceiling - the roof was obviously leaking quite badly.  But before I could get too worried about the small streams pouring down from the ceiling, I became very worried when I glanced out the front window and saw a mighty brown river rushing through our front gate!  Our front door is level with the ground - there are no steps up into our house, and the door does not seal tight against the concrete floor.  Suddenly, water started streaming in under the door and flooding through the dining room and living room and pouring down the two stairs into the bedroom!

I ran to the door leading to the back porch and was relieved to see the water go that direction, where I knew it wouldn't cause too much damage.  I grabbed electronics and Christmas cards off the floor, snatched towels out of the closet and tried to stop the water from coming in under the door and prevent it from going into the bedroom.  I called Andrew in a panic and asked him to come home and help.  I called our landlord and let him know we had a flood situation.  And then I went a little crazy and couldn't figure out what to do for a bit, but finally figured out I needed to move the couch and then start bailing out the bedroom to try to save the bed from sure disaster if the water level rose too high down there.

Andrew managed to get home (we live down a very long dirt road with several small, broken-down bridges barely holding parts of it together, so this was a dangerous challenge) and Holly, our dear friend and neighbor, came over to help.  We mopped, scooped, and used towels to get all the water and mud out.  It never did stop raining until 3:30 in the afternoon!  I can't believe how much water got in the house and how much work it took to get it all back out again!

Much to our surprise, the electricity returned in the evening and nothing in our house seems to be permanently damaged.  A few towels are much worse for the wear and a pillow might have to be discarded, but nothing major was ruined.  We are very thankful for God protecting us and our house and for keeping the damage minimal.  The yard will take a while to recover, but no trees fell and if it's sunny for a few days, everything will dry out okay.