My city, literally, underwater

This is what we call a downpour with an attitude! It's unbelievable and frustrating to realize how unprepared we are for the raining season in this incredible city of São Salvador da Bahia. Last night the whole sky came down on us. It rained so much in three hours that the entire city came to a huge standstill. Nothing moved. Water all over and a lot of problems, especially landslides in the poor areas. But as disasters here tend to be democratic in one sense, the rich 'bairros' also got to be engulfed by the muddy river Salvador was transformed into due to the bad storm. Yes, this is our city. Our summer city. The city that beautifully welcomes lots of tourists and bluntly penalizes its inhabitants. I was home safe and sound at about the time the storm began, but I couldn't stop thinking about the slum dwellers and people who live in the poor neighborhoods as, ironically, they are the ones who have little or nothing, and when a tragedy like this strikes, they end up losing everything over and over, year after year. It's a shame, and the worst part of this story is that this has become routine. It's the very same thing every time summer says goodbye. Our three-hour 'Katrina' last night was just a sample of what the 'waters of March' may be bringing in in the near future. It was the announcement of what is right on the way. The consequences can be tragic. They were last night. They were. They could've been avoided. They could've. We didn't. We haven't. Shame on us. All of us!