Anyone got an ark?

This morning, I went around the city looking at the flooding situation which is worsening every day. The 12km road between the airport and the nearby village of Loma Suarez is now cut with part of the road completely destroyed by the water. Water has filled both sides and there are ranches underwater. We passed a few cows in the street who were obviously fleeing the water and just trying to find food wherever. Here are a couple of photos from where the road cut is.

The situation in the city isn't much better. The south end of town is completely flooded and there is only about a foot difference between the "ring road" and the water level. The entire southern side is flooded and the neighborhoods have been forced to evacuate and are now living in tents along the side of the road. Transit police are everywhere monitoring the situation. The water has been rising at a rate of about 3 inches a day, but the last couple of days has slowed to 1 inch a day. This slowdown is most likely due to a few days of sunshine we've had lately with no rain. Here are also a couple pictures showing the submerged neighborhood and the tents along the "ring" road.

The local river, the Mamoré, is jokingly called the "Marmoré" this time of the year since it becomes like a sea instead of a river (mar means sea in Spanish). I guess this is the local way of coping with all the distress and problems and keeping a good attitude. Anyway, please keep us in your prayers, the next weeks will be key in stemming the growing water level. Military personnel are already sandbagging areas of the "ring" road in anticipation of higher water.

All of this flooding is a result of massive rains that have hit Santa Cruz and Cochabamba and the water caused big problems in the Santa Cruz areas and has just moved downstream to us. People are saying it's worse than this time last year, and that was the worst flooding Bolivia had seen in 25 years!! I'll be sure to keep you all posted. . .