You’ve sung the words to the song, “Oh no, don’t let the rain come down. My roof has a hole in it and I might drown…” Well, we pretty much drowned the other day.
It started raining about two o’clock in the afternoon. This wasn’t any light drizzle, this was sheets of water. At first we thought it was kind of fun watching this mass of rain. But when our center courtyard started to fill up, we got a little nervous. Hey no problem…it will stop soon.
No, it didn’t stop. The water ran off the grass in the courtyard and onto the sidewalks close to the doors to our apartment, the offices, the young missionary apartment, and the conferences rooms. We knew what to do! We got plastic and blankets to block the water from seeping under the doors. Our blockades leaked and we had to bail water, but they were holding.
The down-pour continued. Our neighbor’s yard flooded and the water flowed into our complex from the back.
The street flooded and the water flowed into our complex from the front. The FM (facility management) sent us some sandbags so we reinforced our blockades in front of our doors which were still holding back the water. We breathed a sigh of relief thinking all was well.
Now we built the blockade around the door so we could still enter our apartment. Feeling confident that the sandbags were stopping the water from flooding our living areas, Elder Thompson and I went into our apartment. To our amazement the bathroom, bedroom, and part of the living room was filled with water. We couldn’t believe it! Apparently the water table had risen so high, that water had come into the building through the foundation. What a mess!!! After rescuing a few things that were on the floor, WE GAVE UP!
The young missionaries had a water fight and slide around in the six inch deep water in the courtyard.
Not everyone was concerned about the rain. These girls stood under the overflowing rain gutter and took a shower. We saw people doing this all over the island. There is nothing like washing in rain water instead of the sea.
We oldie goldies decided to head to higher ground. The FM arranged for us to stay at one of the empty houses at Liahona, a village about fifteen miles away from the mission home. Driving there reminded us of cruising the main channel of Lake Powell.
We got behind a van, and it pushed the water to the sides breaking a way for us. The radio the next day said that it rained nine inches in about seven hours. Even the Tongans said this was a huge storm.
Many people besides us were dealing with flooding. In fact, when we got over to Liahona, the Temple President and his wife had also been flooded out of their home. Both of us couples stayed in “Fale 1” which is the house where the apostles stay when they come to Tonga. The house has two wings, and each of us had a wing to stay in with a joint kitchen. We ended up staying there two nights. It was nice to get to know the Shumways. They are “big wheels” down here. They talked about having the King’s brother over for dinner. They have met with the King.
They know the princess.
We talked about having the young elders over for pancakes.
You get the picture?
The next day we returned to the office. When we removed the sand and opened the door, water in the office flowed out of the room onto the courtyard. We were flooded in a big way in the office. In some places over 3 inches of water. You can see that the water flow was sufficient to wash the sand away.
This pillar shows the water depth in the center court.
Needless to say, the words "rain, rain go away" have greater meaning to us.
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