"Rome will collapse if I don't see you tomorrow"

Word of the Post: YIKES (YIKES)

When my friend Steph and I told eachother that Rome would collapse if we didn't see eachother today before leaving to go back to the states...we weren't serious. Apparently the father of rain took us seriously though, as rain has been pounding the city of Rome for days and nights now. Wednesday night I awoke to booms six times throughout the night. The next morning I woke up and proclaimed that their must have been an earthquake. On my way to school this week, I got hailed on twice. And last night when I came back from our apperitivo the Tiber River was the highest I had seen it since I came to Rome-and today the river was even higher. Forget it being the highest I have ever seen the river since being here...it is the highest the river has been in FORTY years.

Forget Alitalia strikes being the reason that I could have possibly not made it home tomorrow--The Tiber River could potentially burst its banks and flood the streets of Rome leaving us stranded in our apartment or causing us to be evacuated but to where?--Awesome.

One man died today trying to help another man with his flooded car. Two people died in other flooded parts of Italy through the course of the last few days as well.

This morning while we climbed the Cast of San'Angelo, we saw police men racing towards a bridge, so we raced towards an opening of the Cast, to watch why they were running. Then we saw why. A houseboat had been ripped from the bank upstream and had come downstream in the current...The water was raised so high on the arches so we anticipated the upcoming crash...People ran towards the bridge to watch as we peered from up above..."here it comes," ... "IMPACT." The crashing sound echoed up to us, and we were stunned. The three of us as well as other onlookers had our digital video cameras out catching all the action...None of us could believe what we had just seen. A house...that was a boat... had just crashed into a bridge. We went back home and told our housemates about it, and then went on with our day.

I went to see Steph -- so Rome shouldn't collapse. On my way back from visiting with Steph I looked out to the bridge to see if the remains of the boat house were still there... No the boat house was no longer there...but something now much bigger was two arches over--A ship, turned sideways attached to its dock.

The rain has slowed, and we haven't been evacuated (hopefully if we are--it is to the airport)...and now all we can do is wait--and watch as arches now shaped like mouths begin eating more structures and river debri...





For more news visit http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/12/12/italy.bad.weather/