good thing they are FLOAT planes

~Post by Josh

The water encroaching on the entrance to our hangar.

As we are busily packing our suitcases and our belongings into boxes for our impending move, we are keeping wary eye on the river.  I've mentioned before how the river level rises and falls sometimes as much as 40 feet between rainy season and dry season.  Working on the bank of the river, where our hangar is located, I have become much more aware of how this effects river life.  Our ramp, for example, which is just a simple concrete boat ramp for pulling the float planes out of the river, must be more than 100 yards long just to accommodate the changing level of the water.  In many areas throughout the Amazon houses are built on stilts, but even so, during higher than normal years, the people are forced to move to high ground for a time.  Evidencing the ingenuity of the people, or perhaps the desperation, I have even seen people build a type of makeshift scaffolding to hold their family and belongings hovering inches above the water until it recedes.

There is a mark a few inches from the top of our ramp at the entrance to our hangar that marks the highest level the river reached in the memory of the local people.  That high level record was set in 2009.  This year we are watching the river particularly closely because the river is already higher than at this time in 2009.  It has been a particularly wet rainy season, and possibly due to a more mild winter in the Andes Mountains and the resulting heavier than normal snow melt.  As of the 1st of May, we are about 1.5 feet below the high level mark and the river doesn't usually peak until the end of June.  The river has been rising about 2 inches per day.  The odds do not look good.  

The view of our ramp from the hangar during a recent, particularly severe, dry season. That is not water at the end of the ramp, but mud. Look close and you can see trails of footprints.

The view of  the hangar from a boat on June 2nd.  The water has about 2.5 ft. before entering the hangar.

Beyond our concern that our hangar will flood, swamping many tools and a parts room that could potentially cause many thousand dollars in damages, our hearts go out to the many people living at the rivers edge.  They have so little already and a flood would make their difficult lives that much harder.  Floods also bring an increase in disease as well as limited access to fresh food and clean water.  Please pray for the people of the Amazon, and that those ministering to them would show the love of God.