Rainstorms and Flooding – Update

30cm rain has fallen in 6 days – that is three times the national average – but the rain has been light since Monday and the sun has come out – praise God! This has dried many streets and people are able to dry their bedding, clothes etc.  However, there are many areas which are still under waist-height water though the government have a number of pumps in action.

Tragically, some have died in a house that collapsed and was washed away into the river.

Praise God team members arrived back safely from Tadjourah. The road had been completely washed away in many parts.  It was as if God sent angels ahead of them in the form of another car driver who helped them get off a rock, and led the way, and in the form of a man who walked through the wadi ahead of them so they could see how deep it was. Once the team were ‘angels’ themselves leading the way through another wadi!

Back in Djibouti city the team were able to help some neighbours such as the homeless guys who sleep outside the apartment and a neighbour’s mother who needed a car to go to hospital.

EELC remains closed.  Power is again available but there is standing water all around and the buses are not yet operating as normal. Some small scale distribution of relief is being provided to flood-affected people, along with other like-minded NGOs. Tarpaulins have been given to one family who live in very unstable housing and the team is now working with community leaders to provide blankets, emergency food, clothing and shoes.  Some have been filling sand bags and helping to bag up clothes etc while others have gone on a trip to the countryside where they hope to distribute supplies and encouragement.

Please pray for the team to have wisdom and respect and to learn from these experiences.

Pray that they will not do any damage as they try to find ways to empower local people to work and find solutions, rather than doing it for them in their way.

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