Sunday night update

First of all, our deep gratitude to God for the e-mails and phone calls that have been coming from all over Europe and the US. Much of what you see on YouTube is part of what we've been seeing on TV... We still have not been into the center of Funchal ourselves, as the authorities are asking people to avoid the downtown areas. Pictures of some of the streets shown on the TV explain why. Many of the streets are irrecognizable, strewn with rocks or buried in mud. One of the principal streets is filled with stones which have left the tops of cars barely visible. The layer of stones is at least 4 feet deep.

Pastor Moiséis filmed from the top of their apartment building and commented on what he saw. If you don't know Portuguese, I'll summarize by saying he specifically mentions the three locations where the rock walls of the creek bed were destroyed and left craters in the street. You can see that video here.

We were able to get to church by a long detour, which passed right by this location. The exit to our church was still closed today, due to crews clearing debris and wrecked cars. Attendance was about 50% today, but we're thankful for those who made it. We were able to confirm that there were no personal injuries among the members; property damage was limited to two automobiles that got flooded with muddy waters, but were not washed away, and Sis. Fernanda will have to replace the flooring in her house after getting up to 6" of water throughout her place.

Our brothers and sisters at the Assembly of God were not so fortunate. Pastor César called to say that one of their members was swept away by raging waters, as her husband was unable to grab her arm.

As of tonight, the death toll is 42. An update is to be given at noon tomorrow.

Here are the latest pictures I took this afternoon in the area of the church.

STREET SCENES
Click on photos to enlarge.

When we crossed this intersection on the way to church, there was still a log lying halfway across it. When we walked over after the morning service, the log was gone, but the rocks weren't.









The force of the waters twisted metal around sign posts and left odd arrangements of debris.








UP THE HILL A BLOCK

Remember the photo in the first posting about the storm?





This was what we saw in the same location this afternoon:




The front wall of the house had been knocked out by the force of the waters coming from the mountainside behind:




The path of destruction:



Starting at the top, remember the car in a previous post?




This is it from the other side, in an enlargement of the top center of the picture above:




In the center of this picture, you see the roof of the second house which was destroyed as the water roared down the hill, pushing everything in front of it. Then the lower house with the front wall knocked out. To the left of the house you can just make out some men in orange suits.




In this close-up you can see they're walking over a car that washed down in between the houses, as the wheel of the car is very visible:



As I stood watching, I realized they were trying to pull a body from the car. A group of men on the high wall behind tugged on a rope and pulled the body free, then brought it through the house, laid it on the terrace and covered it with a sheet.



Then a man went off and brought back a bottle of clear water, who was handed a wallet taken from the body. He opened the mud-covered wallet and washed off the documents so the policeman standing beside him could radio in the ID of one more victim.




Before I left my vantage point, I noticed that on the right side of that same house, there was another car wedged in the space between houses, and that the gate at the bottom of the stairs kept more debris from washing out into the street.



I didn't stick around to see if there was a body to be retrieved from that car.

Now as I sit here writing this, I hear the wind blowing and the rain hitting the windows of my study. Fortunately, it is a light rain.