Too Much Rain Leads to Tragedy

It's been raining like crazy since this past Saturday. We've had the rainiest month on record. Just prior to this deluge we had been experiencing a drought for most of the summer. And more rain is expected today and tomorrow. We are finally going to dry out and see the sun this weekend.

Unfortunatley, the heavy rains caused a tragic accident here yesterday. A mother and her child, who were waiting for a bus, were electrocuted when lightining struck a power line. It fell into some standing water near where the woman and child were. A man on the bus leapt off to aid them and he too was killed. The bus driver was injured when he also tried to help. This all happened during a terrible downpour yesterday afternoon, a downpour I was driving through to get home.

We've had so much rain in such a short period of time that on that particular street the rain was up to the bumpers of cars. So, yes, there was a lot of deep standing water and the combination of that and the lightinting striking that pole was a tragic conflation of terrible events.

What was also sad was that the first responders to the scene could do nothing to help the vicitms until the utility people arrived to turn off the power. Bystanders also tried to help but were pulled back as they would have been electrocuted too.

All very, very sad.