Residents told local media that contact with the floodwater has begun to cause skin irritations. Piles of dead sheep and dogs have also begun to appear in the area. Imagine cars, animals, houses and some people covered in that filth. The cleanup will be awful. Before she delivers the relief supplies, Rebekah has been advised to get tetanus shots and to wear boots.
News agencies say that vehicles are forced to make an hours-long detour.
Local residents didn't accept that explanation. Residents say the streets of some neighborhoods in Chalco were littered with miles of cement sewage pipes that never were installed and connected underground. There had been smaller floods in recent years, and residents say they had been appealing for months for officials to repair the canal walls or to run the water through pipes. The prime minister here, Bartholomew Ulufa'alu, resigned today, paving the way, it is hoped, for peace between warring factions in this South Pacific nation of nearly half a million people. The Adventist News Network reported yesterday that twelve Seventh-day Adventist Church expatriate, or foreign, staff based here were evacuated on June 8 on the Australian naval vessel HMAS Tobruk.