Does anyone have an Ark?

It started to rain again at lunch time yesterday, and we've had 11" of rain since 6pm last night, torrential downpours with strong winds accompanying them.  At the morning meetings the sides and rear of the tent were filled with umbrellas - it was quite difficult to find somewhere to 'park' ours by the time we arrived.

Rain poured in through the holes where the poles go in the tent running down the poles. And lots of chairs were moved avoid the drops, so there were lots of bare patches.  The wind was so strong that even in the 'dry' spots we were getting rained on at times and some people were sitting with their blankets over their heads or their umbrellas up - it was a funny sight, but the blessings from the message were there nevertheless.

Marilyn and Rick had been around earlier today taking photos and here is the location where we had the meeting tent last year - well and truly under water this morning, and even more so by now.

This is beside the road entering the convention ground this morning,  by now the road is cut off totally.

We went straight from the 10.30 meeting to the dining hall, after having a good talk with some friends.  And once again stayed talking after lunch.  Until our friend Rick came up to tell us that our annexe was flat on the ground!  Unfortunately he didn't stop to take a photo of it in his hurry to come and get us so he could help us fix things up - strange, that :)  And I didn't think of it either when we came back, the thought of rescuing what little was still dry being uppermost in my mind.

We rushed back to the caravan and there was our awning ripped halfway across the length, which meant that it had sagged and the whole annexe walls were sagging too, their entire weight leaning on the rope Peter had stretched from the corner where the tear had started to the one diagonally opposite.  I retrieved a pile of ironing I had on the table - no need to do it now, it is totally soggy.  Rescued the dirty washing (still dry) and got that into the car, along with our comfortable folding chairs.  Then I dismantled the large table and chairs that we had for eating outside and threw Nathan's soggy bedding onto the floor of the caravan.

Meanwhile our two friends and another chap who was passing by were dismantling the annexe walls, folding them up and extricating the broken arm of the awning from the mess.  They dismantled Nathan's folding bed and got that out of the way, and then they were able to roll up the awning into position, where we will tie it in place when it stops raining.

Funny thing is, I didn't think to take a photo of it all before we started to clean up the mess either :)  I only thought of it as they were getting the last of the awning rolled up.  Sad, because it really did look dramatic lol!  But we praise God that it didn't happen in the strong winds last night, because that arm broke right above Nathan and the whole part came down on his bed.  If it had happened while he was in the bed he surely could have been hurt, so we are grateful.

Now all I have to do is to dry everything off!  Including a lovely thick wool-filled doona.  And still the rain comes from the sky as though it is never going to end....just like a tropical monsoon.  Never mind, we are snug and warm in our caravan, and are all safe.  So all is well.  And the sun will shine again.
Blessings
Sandie