After a couple of days of relative quiet (that is only a little bit of rain), the clouds moved back in.  There were scattered showers throughout the city on Wednesday, but nothing heavy. The problem, however, is that the ground is super-saturated already, the ditches are full, the rivers are full, the lakes and reservoirs are full.  Sooooo ... any rain is too much rain.  And now the city is prone to flash flooding.

Through yesterday the waters slowly began receding in the flooded areas (the press claims that 75% of the city has been affected).  However, that is changing as of right now (438am). Late last night we could hear thunder rolling overhead.  About 330am the rain started again - at least here at the house. It is still going - and its a pretty heavy and steady rain.  Time will tell if it is one of those 12 inch gully washers - but I don't think so.

As I drive from the office (central) to the house (6 miles SE of office), the roads are not too bad ... I generally take good roads.  But, we do take some short cuts along the way ... most of these are in pretty good shape (if they weren't we wouldn't be on them) ... so I am not getting a good perspective on the devastation in/around the city.  The local news shows a lot ... but don't know how good of a sample that is.

Sent an SMS to an Indonesian friend last night who lives in the far north part of town, the "old city".  She has been stuck at home all week due to flooding ... but her house was dry ... until yesterday.  Don't know what happened as it didn't rain that much yesterday ... but as I said ... any rain is too much rain right now.  She says she's ok - I need to try to contact her today.

Yesterday Decy attended an expat women's tea (our companies expats).  Normally Decy doesn't go to these things because she feels out of place and many of the woman are arrogant.  But, overall she had a pretty good time ... and even helped one woman who was from Argentina that could not speak very good English ... so they conversed in a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese ... with the other women watching in amazement wondering how an Indonesian woman speaks English and Portuguese.

While at the ladies tea, Decy presented the need to help those that have been affected by the flood.  Decy received donations of about $300 (plus our contribution) inwhich she used to buy water and other supplies. She will hand out the supplies directly to the needy ... and not go through any agency.  Not sure if she will do that today or tomorrow.  I need to talk to her about "security" to make sure she has at least one of the drivers beside her at all times ... in case the crowd presses in too close.

While $300 isn't a lot of money ... Decy was a stranger to the expat ladies ... she had met only one woman before .... so, I am thankful that they opened up their hearts and wallets.  Personally, I believe this event is really the planting of a seed.  I know that many expat wives have generous hearts ... but in a foreign country they need guidance and help in directing their monies and energies to the right source.  I believe that someday she will get a call asking for her help ... to the ladies .. so they can help others.

It is now 510am ... the rain is still coming down rather heavily.  I can see the pool filling up again, but it is not yet overflowing.

One more topic before I have to close to go to work.  Decy has been in contact with her immediate family.  Most live about about 10-15 miles south of us.  The area called Ciputat is a little bit hilly.  That means, of course, the low lying areas are getting severely flooded (as in 6-10 ft of water) while the higher areas less so.  Thankfully all the family is generally on higher ground.  Nevertheless, there is still some street flooding (2-12 inches) in and around the houses.  Back in 2002 when Decy built her house in Ciputat and rebuilt her mother's house (next door) she took a concious decision to raise the elevation of the house.  The workers hauled in truckloads of sand ... created a "pad" and then built over it.  What that means ... is that the two houses are now "above grade".  Decy says that several houses on the street where our two house are have water in them (I think measured in inches not feet.  However, our two houses are just fine - once again ... thanks to God.

Its time to do final prep's for work, so I must log off ... it will be a challenging drive ... I will try to blog once in the office so all know I arrived safely.

And, yes ... the downpour continues ... its now been 2 hours ... while it may not sound like much ... if this continues at this pace for another 2 hours the city will be paralyzed again.  Even if it stops raining right now ... this will still raise the water level for those already flooded out.