We are well settled into our “summer” home in Telavi, Georgia. We moved about 2 hours east of Tbilisi and are enjoying this new place for July and August. It has been a refreshing change from the busy pace of the capital city. Things changed a bit though in the early morning hours of July 19th at about 4 am. We were awakened to pounding rain and hail and intense winds. They were so intense that we have reason to believe it was a tornado or something very close to it. It was a bit scary. The storm subsided for a short time, and we stepped outside to check things out. It was still too dark to see much, but some neighbors were saying something about the trees. We also pulled out every extra towel we could find to clean up water that had come through all the windows and one light fixture. We went back to sleep and the rain came again. We woke up later as the sun was rising. We looked out the window to find broken trees all around us. As it turned out, our only damage was the water coming in through the windows, some hail damage to the side of the house, and a cracked side mirror on the car. Others around us were less fortunate. One neighbor had large trees fall on his car and smashed it. One had trees fall on their house. Several others had large trees lying all over their yards. Nearly everyone’s fruit trees, gardens, and vineyards were destroyed. Some grape vines were stripped bare without a single leaf or grape left. What fruit and vegetables were left on plants were damaged by the hail. Many also had serious damage to roofs and windows, which in turn resulted in major water damage inside of houses. The damage seems to have extended from Telavi to about 20-25 kilometers east of here.
The area has been flooded with help from military men, city street cleaners from Tbilisi, and other aid workers helping with cleanup and repair work. The president of Georgia has visited the area a few times. The government has given out food to local people and is providing other assistance, like new roofs.
Our days that were so filled with peaceful silence are now filled with the sounds of chainsaws and hammers from sun up to sun down. We were without gas (which we use for stove top cooking ) for 2 days, electricity for 9 days, and the water has been off from time to time. We are also now 14 days without a landline phone and internet. It has been like camping in our own home…cold showers, limited cooking and no baking, no refrigeration, going to bed when the sun goes down, and such. In the past year, USAID opened a center for development in Telavi. One of our neighbors is the director there and told us we were welcome any time to come for internet access and charging our electronics. It has kept us somewhat connected to the outside world, and we are quite thankful for this outlet.
Despite the damage and limitations, we are first thankful for God’s protection during the storm. We also are still quite thankful to be here in Telavi. It has been refreshing for us! It also has brought some lessons and perspectives on life with less, and we have been perfectly fine.
Here a few news articles about the storm: click
here and
here.
Much of the repair work and cleanup has been taken care of, but there is still more work to be done. We are thankful too that the weather has been rain free so the work can continue and homes are not damaged even more. Please keep these people in your prayers.
