Aftermath

It is now a week since the terrible rains in Tahiti. Things are slowly getting cleaned up, and the weather is better, but over 800 homes were destroyed and at least 4,000 people have been directly impacted. There are bridges and roads that have been severely damaged or destroyed.
The last of the schools should be re-opening on Monday. The French and local governments are making emergency funds available, but it is clearly a difficult time for many people, not least the farmers, huge areas of Tahiti's vegetable crops were destroyed, it will take several months to recover the losses. While poor building practices definitely played a role in exacerbating the flooding, as did the disturbingly common habit of diverting, damming or filling local riverbeds with rubbish, it was clearly an exceptional event. In Faa'a the rain gauges recorded a hundred year record with 130 l of water per m² falling within a three hour period, and 198l/m² over six hours......pretty incredible. We leave for Tahiti on Wednesday, for a "Salon du Tourisme" that is likely to be severely damped down after this natural disaster, here's hoping that it will be sunny, at least.