It has been storming like Hurricane Katrina here for two days and nights, and the result now is tons of standing water. New lakes have popped up everywhere!

The storms started Thursday night, just when everything was almost dried up from the last rains. But this storm was different. It put out enormous amounts of continuous rain, and its accompanying winds were strong enough to rip tents apart and nearly blow over the unfortunate souls who had to venture out in it.

The winds were strong enough to blow over a Hesko barrier (you know, those barriers that are put up around tents and buildings to protect them from gunfire and bombs) at the end of our tent, causing it to slam into our wall and hide Maureen's shoes. It was so loud inside from the flapping tent and from things getting knocked over inside by the flapping walls that sleep was difficult for two nights.

Most of the velcro walls are now ripped apart, and it will take half of my day off today to repair them. We're lucky, though, because a tent next to ours is actually flooded. We have taken on a few pints of water on the floor, but nothing too damaging. Swarms of workers were running around in the wind and rain last night trying to pump water out of the area around the flooded tent and hammering tent stakes back into the ground throughout the compound. I keep thinking back to that time last month when I saw a tent on its side in the chowhall parking lot...

If you check out the 10-day forecast on the weather bar to the right of my blog, you'll see that more showers are expected for much of next week. I sure wish I'd stocked up on a surplus of rubber boots. Gold, I tell ya, gold.

Holes in the sides of the tent..