Tropical Storm Dando

  

Mozambique is being challenged by tropical storm Dando.  There has been quite a bit of flooding and the main north - south road (there is only one!) is washed out at the Gaza - Maputo province border.  We have a team from the Wesleyan church trapped here because they were unable to get north to Xai Xai.  The city of Xai Xai is already out of diesel fuel and basic things because the infrastructure of Mozambique is so very fragile.

When we were speaking during our furlough time, I used to say that I could count the times it rained over four years on my two hands.  This year has been quite a bit different!    The good side is the gardens are growing well and we see grass where there has never been grass before.

There is much damage as the sand washes out so easily and roads crumble and cave - disrupting traffic flow.  But people take it in stride, where waiting in a line for hours is, well, just normal.

These photos are of the roads right outside of where we live after the water receded.

This storm is hanging out in the sea between Mozambique and Madagascar and moving so very slowly.  The weather forecasts change hourly.  It reach cyclone speeds for a while but has done lots of damage.  It is a very slight taste of what it must have been like in those terrible floods of 2000 when a series of cyclones whacked Mozambique.

We take weather so much for granted.  But, no matter what happens, we can be sure that God remains on the throne and that nothing happens of which He is not aware.

"You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the LORD, have created it."  Is 45:8