One minute they were sound asleep. The next minute they were fighting for their lives. Many people escaped, but more than a dozen did not. So was the drama that played out Thursday night at a remote US Forest Service campground in a rural section of southwest Arkansas. Six inches of rain and a flash flood on the Little Missouri River turned a sleepy campground into chaos and carnage.
(When I first heard about the incident, I scrambled to find an Arkansas map. The campground in the news reports sounded vaguely familiar. I later realized that I had been there before, though all I did was dangle my feet in the typically lazy river. I was exploring the area, not camping out.)
Somewhere in the Indian Ocean, a 16 year old solo sailor hit a storm and the mast of her sailboat was disabled. Abby Sunderland set off her emergency beacons and people the world over worried that the young girl may have met a watery fate when efforts to communicate with her failed. After the Australian government launched a search and rescue mission, this story appears to have a happier ending. Her boat was located and she was able to tell searchers that she was okay. A rescue ship is now in route.
Weather happens. It doesn't strike because it is angry. It's not sent by a god or a devil to challenge or punish people. It is the result of a number of very natural variables and processes. Torrential rains fall on good and bad people. Battering winds blow on the young and old alike. The same goes for hurricanes, blizzards, volcanic eruptions and any other climatic event a person can dream of.
Sometimes the difference between who survives and who does not is measured in inches or seconds.
While my heart certainly goes out to all the people impacted by the two storms referenced above, I don't view either occurrence as having a supernatural component at all. While those who survived the flash flood may report that they felt "the hand of God" leading them to safety, where was this so-called hand for the 16 people*, including children, who drowned? Why would a loving supreme creator designate this group over here to be saved, while designating the group over there to have to fend for themselves?
* as of the latest report
(When I first heard about the incident, I scrambled to find an Arkansas map. The campground in the news reports sounded vaguely familiar. I later realized that I had been there before, though all I did was dangle my feet in the typically lazy river. I was exploring the area, not camping out.)
Somewhere in the Indian Ocean, a 16 year old solo sailor hit a storm and the mast of her sailboat was disabled. Abby Sunderland set off her emergency beacons and people the world over worried that the young girl may have met a watery fate when efforts to communicate with her failed. After the Australian government launched a search and rescue mission, this story appears to have a happier ending. Her boat was located and she was able to tell searchers that she was okay. A rescue ship is now in route.
Weather happens. It doesn't strike because it is angry. It's not sent by a god or a devil to challenge or punish people. It is the result of a number of very natural variables and processes. Torrential rains fall on good and bad people. Battering winds blow on the young and old alike. The same goes for hurricanes, blizzards, volcanic eruptions and any other climatic event a person can dream of.
Sometimes the difference between who survives and who does not is measured in inches or seconds.
While my heart certainly goes out to all the people impacted by the two storms referenced above, I don't view either occurrence as having a supernatural component at all. While those who survived the flash flood may report that they felt "the hand of God" leading them to safety, where was this so-called hand for the 16 people*, including children, who drowned? Why would a loving supreme creator designate this group over here to be saved, while designating the group over there to have to fend for themselves?
* as of the latest report
This reminds me of my own post about the old couple who was washed away in a flash flood on Maui last thanksgiving day. How often these things happen to people who should have known better.
ReplyDeleteI don't think "knowing better" would apply here (if I understand your point correctly). As a former Arkie, I can tell you that June deluges are not uncommon. I'm sure most of the campers expected this small river to be up in the morning, but even local residents said they couldn't ever remember it rising this high this fast.
ReplyDeleteBesides, the heavy rain hit in the middle of the night when most folks were sound asleep. If I remember correctly, there aren't any lights in the parking area, let alone the camping area. So, even if a person was awakened by the storm and decided to look out of the window of their cabin (or lift up the tent flap), chances are they wouldn't have seen much in the pitch black.