the rain came

Golden Bay/Mohua, here at the top of the south is a most amazing area. But today, after the rain there are slips and people who have had water streaming through their houses, there have been evacuations and roads cut. The road to town has a massive hole in it and is impassable and probably will be for a few days.

Stuff

Takaka township recorded 423mm of rain in a 24 hours period, making it "well in excess of a one in 100 year event", Civil Defence said. The previous 24 hour rainfall high was 256mm in August 1990.

Small communities have had their infrastructure lost and the cleanup has not even started yet.  I haven't heard of anyone hurt so that is good. A massive disruption just before the festive season. Yet on the world stage it wouldn't even rate a mention. Interesting to consider the macro and the micro - how a significant event for an individual is just that, same for a community too. When it all goes bad we will have each other, we will have community and connection and we will have to get on with the job, together. So we help pull people out of trouble - thanks mate, and we open our homes to people that need shelter, and we check up on people and make sure they are okay. We open up the marae and we hear about the people that have suffered loss and we prepare to help them. We are community.

We know about weather events related to global warming - they will become more severe, more random and more destructive. At every scale we will be going through more trials and tribulations and there is nothing we can do about that because the cycles and momentum of earthly change on ponderous scales have already started and they won't stop. But we can prepare and a big part of that is building community and connection. No doubt in calamitous times we are forced together but the more we practice, when we can, the better and we can learn from other communities about what works and what doesn't. Ultimately when it all hits the fan we do what we have to do to survive - we are all in this together.