Elemental forces

Archive photo by Eric Jackson

Looking like an idiot is beside the point --- an ignorant move could spell your quick but awful doom

Mess not with the elements

We had a scare the other day in San Miguelito. Some boys were paying in an open combination sewer and storm drain, something that should not exist even in a city maintained to Third World standards. It was thought that one was lost in there, and the alarm sent people from the SINAPROC disaster relief agency looking down the line for a body. They're used to such things --- almost every year the metro Panama City area sees a few people drowned in the storm drains.

When we get heavy rains, we are dealing with elemental forces. In a matter of a minute or two, a curb that was dry can be overflowed by water. The rushing water can conceal a missing storm drain grate that some maleante stole to sell the metal to a recycler. It's not just a small child who can be swept away --- it happens to adults from time to time too.

Like a big wave or a riptide at the beach, or a swift current in a river, a tropical cloudburst is an elemental force. Engage in a test of strength between yourself and the elements, and almost every time you lose.

Stay away from ditches and storm drains when they're swollen, or when it's raining. Teach the children in your life not to play in such places.

Slow down. Put off that cross-town walk when the hard rains come. Don't challenge that flooded section of road --- especially Avenida Nacional in Curundu --- unless you have a car especially suite for fording raging torrents.

(Why especially that stretch near the start of Avenida Nacional? Because that area has young hoodlums who will wade over and rob you if your car gets stuck in the middle of that flooded street.)

If you have lived here a long time, take this as a reminder. If you are a newcomer, your assumption that things are like things where you come from could cost you your life. Wise up.

Archive photo by José F. Ponce

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