You might be like the majority of Americans (those who don't follow world events) and be thinking, What?! There was flooding in Buenos Aires? Or you may be the few who actually pays attention to what goes on in the world and have already sent me a message asking how I am doing/if I am still alive.
Well, though this blog post is proof enough, I can tell you that the rest of my group and I are alive and safe from the flooding that happened last weekend. For those of you who don't follow the news, the Buenos Aires region got a weird storm last weekend where some barrios got something insane like 5 feet of rain in 2 hours. So, obviously, flash flooding happened and over 50 people died as a result. This unfortunate incident actually happens more often than it should in Buenos Aires. Much of Buenos Aires was built over rivers and so when it rains a lot, these neighborhoods flood like crazy. And, of course, the poorest neighborhoods are those directly over the rivers and get hit the hardest. The Argentine government doesn't care enough to do anything about the problem, so it happens quite often (to the point at which our LSA group was warned upon arrival that it might happen during our trip).
When the flooding actually happened, a few friends and I were out at a bar for some drinks and casual chatting. The worst we saw was about 8 inches in the streets that prevented us from walking and forced us to hail a taxi, then stay in the bar for an extra hour because the rain and the streets were so bad. One member of our group saw the worst of it, where he was stuck inside of a restaurant for 2 hours because they couldn't open up the door without 4 feet of water flowing in and destroying the restaurant.
From what my host parents told me, they don't know anyone killed by the flooding, which is good. But because the damage is so extensive everyone here knows at least one person who lost their home. So please keep prayers out for those who were affected by this!
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