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The tropical storm dropped an amazing amount of water. It rained between 1-2 hours with such strength that has never been seen here before. The farm suffered some unbelievable damage: the Boeshe lake overflowed so much, that the water reached Don Daniel's knee and he could barely make his way home, the road to go to the bottom of the farm has cuts made by the water that are more than 9 ft deep and 3 or more feet wide, there are rocks at the bottom of the road, that came from the pastureland, these are more than 6 ft. wide, and they were all rolled down by the water, and it dropped some coffee that was ripening. |
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Yet, our damage seems petty in comparison to the destruction and death in Matagalpa. Matagalpa received all the water from the mountains and in a stampede, it came so fast that some people did not have time to get out of their homes and were carried away by the water, there were about 16 fatalities, plus a lot of housing areas destroyed. For those who lost everything the situation is really bad since insurance is not readily available in Nicaragua. The stories of tragedies in Matagalpa have no end, a boy was returning home from work in his motorcycle got carried off by the water, his motorcycle and all. The water in the city overflowed the canal and destroyed two pedestrian bridges and one vehicle bridge, amazing force. |
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This flash flood occurred at 10 pm, and with the police alarm system deactivated due to water damage, there was no way to warn residents in their homes. The police paraded up and down streets with megaphones advising to move to higher ground. But for many it was too little too late. Within a matter of hours the water exceeded it's space in the canals and flooded 16 barrios (like subdivisions) totally ruined, the things of the houses were taken by the river, they said refrigerators, cars, trucks, buses were seeing passing by. We have a cousin who lives in a nice area about 1.5 blocks from the river, and he had to spend the night on the roof of his house. We lost friends, taken by the water in their sleep. The destruction of life and property is devastating, and to makes matters worse with no insurance, those that lost their homes, have nothing. Eddy currently sits on a committee which will try to prepare the city for future events of this kind. |
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Return to 2007 4th Quarter Newsletter
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