On Friday, I went out to Mother Theresa to help another volunteer plant some mango trees. That afternoon there were a few thunderstorms in the area, and while we were planting we could see thunderstorms all around us. There were some distant lightning strikes, but the skies were clear directly overhead. As soon as we got the last tree in the ground, the skies darkened, and we were caught in the most severe thunderstorms I have ever seen.
The calm before the storm. Notice how nice the mango tree looks.
I pulled my camera out to get a picture of these kids in the wheelbarrow.
Moments after we finished planting the last tree. This is about the time where I said we had better get inside.
The wind came out of nowhere and blew the dust from the soccer "field." It had to be blowing faster than 60mph.
Then the rains came.
And everything was quickly soaked.
We went inside to check out the building for leaks and found that a section of the roof had blown away and water was pouring in.
I was standing out under a cover to get pictures when there was a terrible crunching sound and then a large section of the sheet metal roof flew by and hit a tree.
The flying roof section
And just as quickly as it had began, the storm ended and the sun came out briefly.
The mango trees did not make it through the storm unscathed. Hopefully they bounce back.
Walking back was just bizarre. The power was out and trees were down in the road. It almost looked like the aftermath of a tornado or hurricane.
Here is a newspaper article about the storm: http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=6254&dir=2010/November/Monday8
