The Storm

It's the monsoon season here. That means that every so often a crazy huge storm dumps the equivalent of a small lake on us over a few hours time. There haven't been any storms at our house this season, and I was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to rain. Well, the storm hit on Monday last week.

It was about 2:45 and I was getting ready to leave to pick up the kids. They get out of school at 3:00 and walk over to our meeting spot by 3:10. I noticed that the sky suddenly got a lot darker and then, boom, the lake started falling. I got into the jeep and headed over a bit early so I arrived at 2:58. I could barely see. The roads were flooded and the wind was blowing like you see on TV when a hurricane hits. Some poor kids were trying to walk or bike home, but they were soaked and the wind was blowing them around.


I got to the parking lot and looked around for the kids. I wasn't really expecting to see them, because I thought that maybe the teachers would hold the kids inside for a few minutes to see if the storm would blow over.

Then I saw them. They came running from behind a building trying to make their way to the jeep through the storm. They made it to me, soaked through and through and climbed into the car. I really wish I would have had a camera, because they looked like they'd just climbed out of a pool with their clothes, backpacks, and instrument cases. It turns out that the teachers let all the kids out 10 minutes early, so the teachers could go help manage traffic. My kids were out huddling behind a building for 10 minutes in a huge thunderstorm. Hmmm. I find it interesting that the school didn't have a plan to deal with a rainstorm at the end of the day. This is a very likely occurrence, and they didn't even consider it. It makes me wonder if they have a plan for things like armed gunmen at the school, or fighting at recess ;)

When we got home, our neighbor's tree had blown over, fortunately into her yard, not mine.