Boquete's 30 year flood

It has been drizzling in Valle Escondido for 5 solid days and raining hard above us on the continental divide for almost a week. Today we received a call from the civil protection agnecy (Sinaproc) asking for help with food and blankets for the many people who have been displaced by flooding. I grabbed my camera and my youngest son  and we headed out of the valley to see just how bad things have gotten. The Que Brada Grande that runs through our valley was only about 6 inches above normal, but 2 minutes latter as I reached the Caldera river that runs right through the center of Boquete, it was a roaring brown mass of water, mud and boulders. I headed up to the Panamonte Hotel to see if the river had reached the road way of the bridge and found there was no bridge. We went to the Church in town where my son goes to school and looked out the back to see the fair grounds on the other side of the river under water and the many buildings being swept down the river. We headed further into town to find the civil patrol office near the bridge that crosses to the fairgrounds with a large crowd gathered in the rain, looking toward the bridge. The bridge was blocked by trucks and police to keep people from getting on it. We drove further down the road through town to find the river was now above the road. Cars had stopped and an American told me his apartment was on the other side and under water.
Next stop was the visitors center above town. There must have been a hundred cars there as everyone wanted to see the river and the town from there. The river had swollen to two or three times it normal size and was inundating the entire area.
It was already dark so we headed back home and we went to bed wondering just how bad this was going to get. When I awoke about 6 am I headed right out with my camera to get an assessment of the damage. Rather than more written details I will let these photos speak for themselves. A number of people have lost their homes or businesses from this disaster. We are thankful that there has been no reports of deaths or injuries in Boquete.
You can go here to see the satellite weather map on Lloyd Cripe's Weather website which shows a stalled low pressure area directly over Panama and most of Central America along with some photos people have sent in to him of the flood damage. You can go here to see the photo album to see my photos of the damage to the Boquete area.