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Agatha Update
Sunday, May 30th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
category: Emilys Guatemala

Nothing happened! The sun shined all day, and now the stars are out. We spent most of the day at a double baptism and a half hour after we got home and were running around crazy–starting bread, digging up potatos, getting ready for some heavy yoga–we were spontaneously invited to dinner. Magdalena had killed one of her chickens for us today.  We’ll see if we get even a drop of rain out of this thing. It did rain for about 30 hours with 2 short breaks until last night around midnight, but the storm was set to hit Guatemala at 5 am this morning, which means that was just regular rainy season rains. So we’re tired and safe and headed for a busy day tomorrow.  See you all back here in the near future.

Posted by: emily



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  1. kathy posted the following on May 30, 2010 at 11:16 pm.

    Glad to hear you all are safe!

    Things do not look too peachy in Panajachel (all but one bridge washed out) or Panabaj, (near Santiago Atitlan) which you may know took a terrible hit from mudslides in ’05.
    I’m particularly waiting to hear how things are in Escuintla & Suchitepequez.

  2. Beth in MN posted the following on May 31, 2010 at 12:26 am.

    CBS reports at least 73 dead in Guatemala.

    Beth in MN

  3. Jean posted the following on May 31, 2010 at 12:54 pm.

    Glad you’re safe!

  4. Beth in MN posted the following on May 31, 2010 at 6:47 pm.

    pictures of flooding here:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/hablaguate/sets/72157624046340961/show/with/4654510657/
    and here:
    http://antiguadailyphoto.com/

    sinkhole in Guate City here (swallowed 3-story building, a house, and possibly a man)
    http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/31/honduras.storm.emergency/index.html?hpt=T1

    more photos here (Panajachel):
    http://missionguatemala.com/2010/05/hurricane-agatha-blasts-guatemala/

    1. Jim posted the following on May 31, 2010 at 7:49 pm.

      HOLY SHIT!!!! Look at the third picture she linked to! I have never seen anything like that before.

      But don’t worry about us, everything here is fine. It was sunny and pleasant for the last two days; I think we must be too far inland (or the Cuchumatanes too high) for Agatha to harm us.

      Not so for our friend Gamma in Peace Corps El Salvador; apparently she spent the last two days stacking sandbags at the river’s edge with her villagers.

      1. SoniaBegonia posted the following on June 1, 2010 at 7:37 am.

        Seeing the picture of the sinkhole gave me deja-vu. It happened in Guatemala city in 2007, too:

        http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070226-sinkhole-photo.html

      2. Jim posted the following on June 4, 2010 at 6:36 pm.

        I just reveived a link to further details on that incredible sinkhole:
        http://news.discovery.com/earth/dont-call-the-guatemala-sinkhole-a-sinkhole.html

  5. Andy posted the following on June 1, 2010 at 7:59 am.

    I think this always happens in Guate because the water table is really low because of over use. It happened when I was there as well.