Grateful for small mercies in the midst of total devastation

Roughly 102mm of rain fell between mid-Sunday and late on Monday evening. Above is the rain guauge with more than 50mm of rain in it. I emptied that amount out. Twice.

After a very wet winter, two farm dams up the mountain from the village burst. The already full, fast-flowing streams became raging torrents of destruction that took away five homes on one farm and the three cottages at the entrance to the village. Monday was terrifying. Late morning, RR messaged me to say - and sent a video that water was creeping on to her veranda and she had a river running past her gate.

The river is usually a trickle, at least 150m away. That torrent just got worse and then there was radio silence. I was worried. I had thought that she should get out. Turns out that friends had sent her a message:

Pack a bag. Get your animals ready. We're coming to fetch you.

They went down the krans and fetched her and her with her dog and two cats. Then they helped the other residents - who would - leave. Some wouldn't. Mercifully, they didn't lose their homes but others did. You can get some sense of the devastation here. My photos that follow only give a miniscule inkling of the real devastation that surrounds us. With no apologies for the photo dump.

This is a series of photos I took at the entrance to the village on Tuesday. You can see that although the river's still running, the water had subsided. A lot. I have rarely seen water in that channel. It's usually full of large river stones with water gently trickling through them.

Beyond the river, and between the poles and that row of scrub next the road, there used to be three cottages. They are nothing but a pile of rubble.

This is the other side of the bridge, looking downstream. That pile of debris must have collected around a small knoll. It's hard to give a sense of scale unless you look at what's left of the structures at the top left of the photo.

Here, locals keep their livestock. Some animals - mostly pigs and goats - were rescued. Many weren't. I bumped into my market pals B & B. He told me that Monday had been horrendous not being able to help so many animals and worse than their screaming was when it all went quiet and all they could hear was the roaring of the water. The lost their pigs but saved all of their goats - including the kids. It's lambing season...

In "suburbia"

It wasn't just rain. The wind was howling and a few folk graze their cattle in the still vacant lots. This cow (and a few others), had escaped her camp and cleverly sheltered from the worst of the wind and the driving rain.

This was just the start of the rain - on Monday afternoon. That quantity if water ran down the road - like that - for nearly 24 hours.

On Tuesday morning, this is what greeted me when I wanted to go and measure the rain and start my day.

The beds in vegetable are mini ponds. I also took these photos on Tuesday and today, two days later, the water hasn't seeped away.

Bridges and roads are destroyed, and farmers and the village - for the moment - are cut off from the outside world. Long weekend travellers were stranded.

Farmers and the local authorities are working together to restore parts of roads and bridges so that we can get to Robertson and food. On Monday, I hope. That's when I think my pantry will be bare.

In the meantime, I cannot think of a better place in the world to be marooned. I am grateful for my friends, for the little I can do to help and that I am warm and safe.

Until next time
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa

Photo: Selma
Post script

If this post might seem familiar, it's because I'm doing two things:

• re-vamping old recipes. As I do this, I am adding them in a file format that you can download and print. If you download recipes, buy me a coffee. Or better yet, a glass of wine....?
• and "re-capturing" nearly two years' worth of posts.

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Original artwork: @artywink

• lastly, graphics are created using partly my own photographs, images available freely available on @hive.blog and Canva.
  That no lives were lost is a miracle. Now, the village is pulling together to help those who have lost everything.