Rain, rain and more rain in Manila

I'm back in England for a few days and appalled at the amount of rain that's coming down.  I was in the West Country at the weekend, just in time for 40mm of rain in 3 hours and the next door village completely flooded.  Now I'm in Cumbria and the river, which should be only inches deep for summer holiday paddling, is brown, fast-flowing and several feet deep.  The Mill is surrounded by mud and puddles, but at least it doesn't look like this.

While everyone here is glued to the Olympics, rain on an Olympic scale is falling in the Philippines.  My friend Mel U, who writes a wonderful blog called The Reading Life, has sent me these pics of the floods there, which are now covering more than 80% of the entire country.  He lives in the capital Manila, fortunately on higher ground, but most of the city is now underwater and he has posted graphic pictures of the floods on his blog.  It's hard times even for those who aren't flooded, since shops and all essential services are underwater, schools closed and transport networks non-existent.  And it's still raining.
Do check out his blog and take a look.  We're thinking of you Mel.

Comments

  1. Like the Queensland floods 18 months ago.

    But Queensland is in a first world country. What kind of recovery are the Phillipines going to have?
    Plus it barely rates a mention down this way with all the angst over "how few" gold medals Oz is getting. Our priorities are all askew.

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  2. I agree Al - it seems very wrong to be so jubilant and obsessed by games when such awful things are happening in the Philippines and Syria. I know you need some light relief in life, but I think there should be some balance!

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  3. It's early August and our small lawn has finally emerged from the flood-water of Kootenay Lake. Our shed had to be tied by rope to a nearby tree so it wouldn't tootle off down the crazy river...

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  4. Looks like it's just as wet in CAnada, CAthy. We're all going to be moving to higher ground, or building houseboats!

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  5. Our flooding, despite some loss of life in a local landslide, is small compared to Manilla's onslaught of water...

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  6. Kathleen. Thanks very much for your kind words.

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