During the rain season in 2009, one of my uncles and his wife were caught in a flash flood. Rain from a nearby thunderstorm had caused a local river to swell – coincidentally a river my uncle and aunt were about to cross while in a taxi. Not exactly a health decision, the taxi driver drove over the bridge as the quickly rising flood waters overcame the road. The car was then carried tens of metres downstream before being parked at a tree. All occupants eventually and luckily got out by breaking the windshield of the taxi and survived.

The picture below is of such a thunderstorm system in Zambia that can turn roads into rivers and bridges into log jams. I’ve written in another post about the interaction between building traditions and weather. In the case of floods from thunderstorms, these can happen within minutes and claim lives each rain season.

All three pictures were taken by my father. Glad my uncle and aunt made it.