Tropical Storm Noel: Fernando's Story

Testimony of Fernando De la Cruz Díaz
Discipleship Promoter for Floresta RD

At 2:45 in the morning on Monday, October 29, the electricity in Piedra Blanca was interrupted by the intense rains. Cries and voices of neighbors could be heard everywhere as the Maimon river was coming into their homes. The neighbors were knocking on each other’s homes but the voices were not distinguishable because of the loud noise of the rain and the rising of the river. I got up and looked out the window of the room where I sleep and saw dead horses floating and dragged by the river. I could sense that the water was coming into my house and I exclaimed “Oh Lord! Everything is coming to an end!” The first thing I did was go to my daughters’ room: Fernanda and Esmirna. I woke them up and got them out of bed, we ran to leave the house, but the door wouldn’t open because the currents were so strong, they held it shut. I decided to break through the roof of the house to go out the top, but I couldn’t lift up the girls by myself. So I climbed through alone, then broke the door from the outside. The water rushed in and knocked down the girls, but somehow we all managed to leave the house. The water was up to my chest, because it had risen four feet. I carried the girls in my arms and all the neighbors left our houses for the highest part of the area where we live in Piedra Blanca.

The current pulled Fernanda, my oldest daughter (7 years old), towards me and I fell. I held on more tightly and lifted myself with my two daughters and continued forward, with difficulty, towards the Floresta warehouse. When I arrived, Beato, the caretaker of the warehouse didn’t know what was happening and I explained that at this moment the community had water up to 6 feet high in all of the houses, due to the overflowing of the river. He allowed us to stay, along with all of the people that fled to the highest part of the place. The hours passed. The 60 of us in the Floresta warehouse waited for the daylight to arrive to see what actually happened. When the day dawned, I went to see my house and it was full of mud. Even the fridge, beds, stove, dresser, clothes and plates were full of mud. The mud was at least a foot high throughout the house. The rain kept pouring and I went back up to where the girls and the rest of the people were, because they hadn’t been rescued yet due to the strong currents of water that knocked out the main bridge that connects the area to the rest of town.

In the midst of cries of desperation of many people, due to the loss of children, mothers, family members and friends, we encouraged one another. The rains died down a bit around 11am and we were finally able to cross back into town. Around 1pm in the afternoon, my sister in-law rescued my two daughters and me. We began to realize more clearly that we would no longer see some our neighbors and friends in this life, as the river had taken them away. [At least 15 people died in Piedra Blanca that night.]

I thank God that my daughter Fernanda, especially, was not carried away by the currents. She said to me “daddy, the water is going to take me, don’t let me die.”

And now the trauma continues, together with a great gratitude to God for giving us life anew.