Deadly downpours in Panama
I had no idea this had happened until a friend returned from Panama and told me about what disastrous weather the country had experienced in the Panama Canal area. A quote from his email, edited for personal information:
“I just arrived back home, one week ahead of my planned returned due to severe weather in Panama. The country is experiencing the worst torrential rains in recorded history and it is causing terrible conditions with water visibility offshore […] I was in Panama for two days and tried twice to make the two hour drive to the place I was be based, but never made it, spending 8 hours in the truck each day, stuck on the road. Mudslides and landslides took out electricity and homes along the road I was traveling and ten people were killed. I got out of the truck and walked up the road to see what was happening and got trapped for about an hour in pouring rain. They were digging bodies out of the mud with shovels. Had to walk through mud up to my hips to get back to the truck. Finally made it back to Panama City…”
All this one day after having a very frustrating conversation about how weather is not the same as climate.