Tropical Storm Nicole

Tropical Storm Nicole

The weather lately has been crazy. We've had days on end of torrential downpour. We'd finally gotten used to the amount of rain when Tuesday rolled around. We went out to our weekly movie, and by the time the movie was over, the rains and the wind had picked up, and we were in the middle of experiencing our first tropical storm! The streets of downtown Mandeville had flooded and our families had difficulty getting us home safe with the streets flooded and the trees down.

The next day, the rain let up for a little bit, but the power was out, so class was canceled. We'd planned to go to the market and have a "Goshen Day" where we all go up to Josh's and relax, contact home, eat a delicious meal prepared by Rachel, and hopefully work on some interpreting. We planned on celebrating the birthdays of Brittany and Gary, our driver, so we were all disappointed about missing out on cake.

Since the rain had stopped, Kayla and I decided to head into Mandeville. Everything was fine until later that evening, when the rain picked up again. The streets were flooded and some of the roads even turned into rivers, the water was rushing down so quickly. Many of the streets were impassable and taxis weren't running to and from Mandeville. We finally made it home safe and spent time with our family in the candlelit house.

We had no power and the cell phone had no service, so we had no idea of the amount of damage caused by the storm. The whole island suffered from the flooding and wind damage, and over 100,000 people were left without power. Six people died and there are still about 16 people missing that are presumed to be dead.

Now that we are in Kingston, we have power, and have been able to contact our families and watch the news. We saw that many places on the East coast are being hit by the same storm system that hit us a few days ago. We are praying for those who are suffering from the effects of the storm. We are told that more storms are heading our way, so pray for our safety as well.

So far Kingston has been an interesting experience, as many of the places we'd planned to go have been closed due to the storm.

Love and miss you all,
Lindsay and Kayla