Let the drenching begin!

Today is June 1st, the start of Hurricane Season. And, like clockwork, the rains have begun.  Actually, it's more like the Rains have begun, cause it's not like it didn't rain a ton in May. The land is already saturated with water and there's been threats of flooding in some areas of the country...but that was just May weather. That wasn't hurricane season.  Oh no, hurricane seasons means that the Rains have arrived. 

In honor of the start of Hurricane Season, ONAMET (the DR weather service) announced that starting today there would be 4 straight days of rain...and I don't just mean rain, I mean Rain. - like 4 inches of water in a single deluge, per day, type Rain.  The streets of Santo Domingo never could handle that amount of water, and now it seems like many parts of the country won't be able to either.  At least in Santo Domingo, the water only floods the streets for as long as it takes to roll down the hill to the ocean. Well, that is unless you live in one of the shantytown barrios...then you might wash down to the river with the water, instead of watching it pass you by in your car.

Today's downpour started about 40 minutes before I had to leave work (and ended about 40 minutes after I left work...which made for great traffic). The embassy and USAID are on a slight incline, so when it rains, the entire street in front of work floods, typically overflowing the 6-8in deep gutter and creating its own stream down the sidewalk (as well as in the street).  This means that in order to walk from USAID to the Embassy, you must walk directly through (not cross, but heading "upstream") a good few inches of fast moving water. The intersection is always flooded, which means stepping through 3-5 inches of standing or rushing water, and dodging traffic at the same time.  I can pretty much say that today was the last time I will wear long pants until the Rainy season is over. It;s skirts, dresses, and havaniana flip flops from now until November. Everything else will be perpetually soaked. At least I've learned my lesson from last year, and have a few different umbrellas strategically stashed in various locations. 

Now if only my car had a snorkel...