It never rains, but it pours!

The southern hemisphere summer is the wet season for the Solomons. Actually this should be called the marginally wetter season because there is very little difference. When I arrived in Honiara it hadn't rained for a week and there were dramatic water shortages. The town water was running for about half of each day, so reliant are they on regular rain. As I may have mentioned in an earlier post, Honiara receives between 3000 and 5000 mls. of rain a year. It's pure speculation because there are no weather stations in the highlands of Guadalcanal, but rainfall there is assumed to be nearer 9000 mls. a year! The observant visitor will notice storm drains through town and at GBR that are commonly 2 meters deep and three wide. These can fill within a matter of minutes of rain starting.

We've had two rain storms in the week I've been here, the second one is continuing as I write. All the locals I've spoken to hate and even fear the rain because when it starts at this time of year there is no knowing when it will stop. Apparently the storms will increase in frequency through December until it just doesn't stop, for a month! That's right, it will eventually rain day and night for about 30 days.

At this time the populations of the outlying islands who rely on their food gardens endure a dangerous period. The ground becomes so saturated trees fall over without warning. Landslides on the precipitous hills are common and work in the food gardens becomes impossible. Many of them literally disappear underwater. As a self sufficient islander part of the preparation for this rainy season is to ensure you have enough food stored to last a month without harvesting any more. To me this seems ironically similar to the preparations made in countries bound by snow in winter.

The lawn at GBR within minutes of the rain storm