October 9th, 2017

PLAYA SANTANA

Over the early part of this weekend Tola was slammed by Tropical Storm Nate. The combination of high winds torrential rain, high surf and extreme tides left much of the coastal and low elevation parts of Tola with severe flooding. While there was no loss of life, material damage was severe, many people have been left homeless and many households are without basic services of water and electricity. Response from local residents from Guasacate to Iguana in a position to help has been swift and well organized. In the short term on-the-ground teams are working in a coordinated effort to get clean water/water filters, medical assistance, and other basic necessities to where it is needed. In the near term home rebuilding will be a high priority for those who have lost everything. If you are interested helping with the relief effort your financial support is appreciated. please follow instructions to donate by going to the Go Fund Me link below.  Every penny of your financial support will go to local families in the Tola area affected by the storm.  We are overwhelmed by the support so far and want to send a huge thankful shout out to all who have already donated.https://www.gofundme.com/n2674c-nicaragua-emergency-flood-relief

After finish cleaning my house today of all the mud that got in with the flood, I went with old friends from high school that brought donations from Managua to give away to the affected communities.

The package included rice, beans, bread, toilet paper, a shirt or pants, tooth brush and tooth paste, soap, shampoo, and a few more things that I forgot. Here is Laura giving away tooth brushes to the kids on one of the temporary shelters.

A few locals were out trying to massage their muscles after a long day of shoveling dirt or moving furniture and mattresses out to the sun to dry.

It looks like trash but no, that’s all the belongings of one family, full of mud and kind of spread out to try to sort them out and see what can be saved or not.

The only thing that survived the water and mud in this house was the flat screen. Check out the marks of the water on the walls.

In combination of the rain, we also had big tides. The waves ate the sand below La Caseta at Santana. You can see a big-ass tree laying on the sand at the back thanks one of the many rivers and creeks that found their way to the ocean.

These family was enjoying the blue sky under the shade of a mango tree after a long day of cleaning and moving and drying their belongings.

When the water started getting in, the owners this little house ran outside to the street to look for help and a motorcycle that was passing by ran over the man, leaving him incapable of cleaning his little house. They don’t even have a place to put the matress we gave them.

The school at Limon 2 didn’t suffer any damage so now there are around 400 people sleeping here. During the day everyone but the kids and some women, go back to their houses to clean and put together their stuff and at night everybody comes back to sleep on the floors. Mattresses are a big need right now.

Clothes is also a great need, so many people have only what they had on when the flood happened. Here is my friend Mariana trying to sort out some donated clothes between the people.

If you would like to support Nicaragua during these difficult times, you can do a lot by donating through theGo Fund Me campaignthat Missions Of Grace, and non-profit organization that has been working in Tola for many years, have put together with NSR. Let us reach (and hopefully pass) our goal to help the population of our beloved Tola.