And it is raining again...

I am back but I just got full communication with the world as my little technical problems were finally solved. Having a house guest of course did not help in getting these problems solved earlier. In particular when the bad weather made this house guest stay an extra day. Yep, yesterday we had a full rainy day in San Felipe. Not the heavy rain monsoon type we get normally: heavy but rather brief. Instead a moderate rain but a never ending one. The result of course is that an off season accumulation of such a rain causes flooding not seen in our normal rainy season.

By 10 AM on Tuesday I already sensed that something was wrong. February is, I think, our driest month of the year, and the rain that was falling since 5 AM made me realize that something was askance.

By 11 AM I had managed to contact my relatives that were in the boondocks to tell them to bail out and go back to Caracas right then. Of course, once again I was seen as a Cassandra and they paid dearly by making the return trip late in the afternoon almost three time as long as usual. But they made it back while other relatives were not as lucky. These ones on the shore for the holiday got stranded and as I write are probably standing on line in an emergency lighted dining room with other tourist waiting for a bowl of cheap pasta and margarine. The road between Los Caracas and La Güaira is cut in at least three spots AND the planned evacuation by boat to La Güaira from where they were was suspended due to bad weather. Not that evacuation was a good idea, the army was going to drop them at the docks and they would have had to fend off by themselves to get a cab under the rain up to Caracas in a rather very unsafe area of the port. Not to mention what could happen to their car as it would be left behind for who knows how long...

Since I could not surf the net enough, I have not been able to put together an "report" article but I see that Jorge gave a good account. Thus I will limit myself to write on what I saw on TV, safely dry but humid in San Felipe (where, as I type, rain has started again).

The usual stuff. Striking images of a flood level Güaire through Caracas. Humble abodes taken away by the rain, the collapsing earth, etc... Rain soaked people everywhere trying to stave off the water.

However two things were particularly interesting. The first one was the painful incompetence of public officials in front of the crisis. There is no better time than a national crisis to see who is in charge. And if we could, perhaps, forgive a "young" administration in 1999 facing the immense disaster of Vargas, it is unforgivable today to see that FIVE years later, a lesser episode can still create so much havoc with as little efficiency in government response. Public officials, perhaps in a vacation mood themselves, seemed more like beheaded chickens running around than efficient organizers with a plan in hand, or at least the ability to create a plan fast. Not surprising when folks are chosen for their loyalty to the regime rather than for their administrative abilities. We should be thankful that the rising waters were slow enough that most people had time to leave the dangerous areas.

The other thing was how lousy reporters were. I mean, I never saw such an amount of misplaced locales and reporting for the sake of reporting. Every stream was a "Güaire" in Caracas. Nobody was able to give a clear explanation on the meteorological phenomenon. When interrogated about the situation somewhere I stopped counting how often the journalist replied about the situation elsewhere. And I will not get started on millimeters of rain reported as meters and other assorted wild statements and scientific ignorance. In short, an incompetent government reported by an incompetent media. No wonder that it has lasted 6 years: they both need each other to hide their weakness and sustain their platitudes.

Fortunately so far the general disaster seems to be less disastrous and part of the paranoia comes from the memories of 1999. Still, one of my major clients told me that he had heavy losses as one hill collapsed over a construction; a close friend also told me he lost a large part of his crop; and I am just starting the rounds of news as today was the first day of work. And it keeps raining. Even if it rains less than yesterday, it is now raining on soggy earth and mudslides will become more and more likely as rain persists.

At least school kids should be happy: classes in all of Venezuela have been suspended until Monday, even if it does not rain in your area. Though, now that I think of it, this tells you more about the centralist mindset of the administration than real concern for children. After all, individual governors could take such decisions in their state, but we all know that they were put there by Chavez...