By Nathan

The Big Storm

Nathan with sample of hail.

We lived through a HUGE storm.  It hailed so hard and was so windy our big flowery Bougainvillea fell down!  It also rained.  It rained so hard that the high school yard – all the grass – was water!  Our front yard was also flooded and so was the side (the space between our house and the neighbor’s fence).  The ditch in front of our house was so full rushing water and was so deep it would have drowned me, even if it wasn’t rushing!

Where three rain ditches (drainage ditches) meet there was a waterfall!  There was a sort of tunnel over a pipe.  Since the water was so high, it went over the tunnel.  One of the three ditches had a concrete covering, so cars could drive over it.  The ditch the waterfall went into also had that, and rainwater couldn’t come in, so the waterfall went into an “underground river,” and came out the other side as a rushing creek!  It went on for blocks and I don’t know where it ended. 

There were puddles that were so deep they came up to my knees!  Some were as long as eight to ten feet across! 

Let me tell you what I did.  It all started as any other day.  I woke up dressed for school (Ed. note: this is common – no pajamas, just the next day’s clothes are often put on the night before and slept in!).  Mom said no school for me.  I looked outside.  Then I went outside.  Our neighbor came and when we saw the sports box, that is, the box of sports tipped over in the water on the side, Ald0 told me to roll up my pantlegs and take off my crocs, so I did.  Then, once he had taken off his sapatias (ed. note:  those are flip-flop sandals) and rolled up his pantlegs we waded and got the sports box from the water.  Then we went out back and saved the tool crate and, like the sports crate, was tipped over in the water.  Then we went to the street.  We helped Aldo’s dad, played in the puddles, and explored. 

Exploring on our block where the water overflowed the drainage ditch.

Then we decided to play with boats, and when we did, we lost one, but then we found it, and then we lost another we didn’t find that one.  Then mom got a phone call that we could go to Asuncion in one hour.  So we packed up, and went.