Checking in on Lagonav

Just before breakfast this morning I arrived home from a quick trip to Lagonav.  Over the past few days I have spoken to folks on the island to determine the scale of the damage from Hurricane Sandy.  It is always best to see things in person so I took the flyboat over for a quick tour of the island.  Morning trip over, afternoon drive to some churches and home the next morning.  Overall I am happy to report that the roads were not as bad as I had anticipated and the people were not affected as much as thought.  There is still much to be done and lots of prayer needed.

The first thing that struck me on my trip over was the volume of trash on the ocean.  There is also floating garbage in the channel but this time there was a lot more.  Larger tree branches, bigger streams of trash - most of it swept out of the ravines by the rains of Hurricane Sandy.  The second thing that struck me as the view of Lagonav became clearer was how green everything is.  Lots of rain means plenty of moisture for the plants, bushes and small trees to grow.  But getting all the needed water in a dumping of nearly 12 inches is not ideal.

Thankfully the water has stopped flowing.  As I drove through town up to the guest house I crossed the ravine.  If you remember my post from a few days ago, you saw the picture of the ravine full of water.  Now there are just puddles.  The traffic is once again able to cross from one side of town to the other.  The roads are terrible in Ansagale though.  The torrents of water have created giant furrows down the middle of many streets.  The last section of road up the hill to the guest house is particularly bad.  The ruts are 18 inches deep in places.

At midday I headed out of town with Dumerle.  Our plan was to try and get to Nan Kafe and Bwa Pen, depending on the road conditions.  As it turned out the trip took a little longer than usual.  The driving was very tiring, but we made it.  Most of the roads had dried out so we did not have to wade through mud.  But sections of the road in the mountains were very bad.  Travel times to the rural churches will definitely be longer for the foreseeable future.  We bought some sacks of rice and oil to distribute at the churches on the way.  While we can't provide for all the losses we are thankful to bring a little food and prayer.

In speaking with the leaders of the churches it seems the hardest hit church was Plenn Mapou.  The roads in are still impassable except by motorbike.  The village sits in a mountain valley and has been flooded by heavy rains from hurricane in previous years.  Some members houses were flooded and help will be needed.  At other locations like Bwa Pen people were mostly spared.  Some animals were lost and many gardens were destroyed.  The coming months will be difficult.  But the new tarp at the church held up fine.  School and worship are proceeding on schedule.