WEATHER or NOT: IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!

As Hurricane season hits, and Tropical Storm Mathew is starting in the Gulf and the east coast of Nicaragua and Honduras.  Incredible amounts of rain and destruction are inevitable.  But, it happens EVERY year doesn’t it?

I am including a piece I was asked to write concerning the “odd” hurricane we had on the Pacific coast in May of 2008.  Our small community of Las Penitas and Playa Roca has not recovered 100% as of today, just a glimpse of the past and some of the damage and the rebuilding process.  I have empathy for “Katrina” and Haiti victums of natures wrath. 

From:davecardin @playaroca.com>>

To:Los Angeles TimesSubject:Hurricane Alma and Playa Roca-Las Penitas Nicaragua 5-29-2008 Date:Tue, 24 Mar 2008 15:22:50 -0600 May 29, 2008

 
“Hurricane Alma” exploded onto the Pacific Coast of northern Nicaragua.  No such storm has hit this part of Nicaragua since 1942, and then there was no where near the damage inflicted upon the small fishing community of Las Penitas, 20 miles southwest of Leon.  Playa Roca Beach Hotel was hit the hardest of any commercial establishment, ripping roof tops and rancho’s and flinging the debris like flying missiles over hundreds of feet.  The parking lot flooded to nearly 3 feet before the waters to rush into the ocean, leaving gigantic gouges and craters as the torments of water ripped the earth and sand apart like a hot butter knife.  An 8 foot deep channel 40 foot wide was created from water rushing through Playa Roca, undermining the sea walls that weren’t meant to hold back category 3 hurricane forces.  Winds over 130 mph rampaged through anything that stood in its way, only concrete structures were left, but not without taking paint and stucco off it. 
We were left without water for nearly 5 days and 15 days without electricity.  As the days and nights, after the winds and flooding,  still produced rain storms. The furniture, beds, files, books, linens, everything was exposed and most were 100% destroyed.  No place to sleep that rain didn’t beat down on you.  Cookie, my wife, slept in the car, but because of the heat and humidity she had to keep the windows down and was bitten by the multitudes of mosquito’s that were flourishing in this environment. 
Roads unpassable, power poles lying in the roadways, debris spewed in every direction.  The elementary school less than 200 feet away was also totally demolished.  School was closed down for months as supplies were nearly impossible to come by.  Skilled labor in Nicaragua is hard to find without a catastrophe, so with this disaster there was little relief forth coming from any agency.  Since this part of Nicaragua is so little known, very little information was broadcasted and Zero International relief came to the rescue. 
After months and months of partial replace this and that, Playa Roca finally had a semi-grand RE-opening for the Peace Corp volunteers that came to celebrate Thanksgiving at Playa Roca.  Real turkey and dressing, what a blessing after living in a destruction/construction zone for so long.  
It is nearly a year later and several roofs are still missing, electrical and plumbing repairs not totally operative.  Cookie’s and my small casita still is uninhabitable as the roof, floors, electrical, plumbing has yet to be repaired.  We still make our home the 15×18 foot guest room we have lived in now for over 3 years.  The walls that the trees crumbled have at least been barbed-wired to prevent any further vandalism from taking place, but is such an eye sore from the street as it looks like a canon blew a gaping hole in the fortress wall. 
Cookie has done a magnificent job in making the rooms brighter and more comfortable than before the hurricane.  The “rancho’s” second story is now open again with a better built roof and new electricalsockets for computers and other electrical gadgets and toys.  I hope to have a better sound system and TV for sports/movie programing up and running this year. 
The “Learning Center” I have been attempting to construct has had to take back seat to getting Playa Roca basic’s back operating again.  The school/learning center is very high on the priority list, I need it as much as the “kids” need it, we have to make life better for everyone, not just ourselves and the tourists.   
 picasaweb.google.com/dcpictures/PlayaRocaBeachHotelBeforeAndAfterHurricaneAlma?feat=directlink 

picasaweb.google.com/dcpictures/SeawallDevestation?authkey=Gv1sRgCM_Vwfe0nbWNCQ&feat=directline

NOW: 
Hawaii at 60% off.  Pacific Ocean Paradise at Playa Roca Beach Hotel-Las Penitas, Nicaragua   
www.playaroca.com   bit.ly/4Ujkk