Here in Paraguay the drought that had lasted all summer has finally been bought to an end.
Summer should be a time of sunshine and showers. The time of year when the heat builds up but the air is freshened as periodic storms return the evaporated moisture to the ground.
Winter is traditionally the dry season. Then there is insufficient heat to drive the cycle of evaporation and precipitation. Weeks without rain during winter time are quite normal.
Not so in summer where heat of the sun drives a system which most years ensures that water is returned to the land in the form of regular rain storms. Stopping the land from becoming dry and parched.
This year however that has not been the case.
All through the summer the sun baked the land. Water was sucked away from it but climatic conditions stopped the storms that should have returned that water from forming.
As such there were few damp days to help moderate the summer temperatures. Readings above 40 degrees are not uncommon in summer but this year they continued to be seem for day after day.
It has also been a bad time for agriculture as without rain to aid growth crops have wilted in the parched fields.
Those almost drought like conditions that continued for the whole of the long summer could not last forever. The arrival of autumn was sure to bring them to an end.
The first sign that summer was over and autumn had arrived came last week.
Then at last there was a good rain fall. Those rains were for the first time in months not followed by high humidity and a quick return of the heat.
Instead it acted to take most of the humidity out of the air making the land both cooler and fresher. For the first time in months the air was not so moisture filled as to make sweating unavoidable. Sleeping suddenly became something that was comfortable to do.
This week further rain was forecast. Days rather than hours of rain this time. Once it had passed the air would have the pleasant freshness of autumn.
The storm when it came was the heaviest Paraguay had seen for a very long time. It bought much rain and a lot of disturbance and difficulties.
On Tuesday afternoon the sky began to blacken and fill with clouds as the storm built up. It was clear to everyone that a storm was coming. It was just its scale that was unknown.
Late afternoon after the clouds had been building for several hours there were the first few large spots of rain. Once they had fallen the storm raced in with great speed.
The rain quickly became torrential and for the first hour was driven on by a fierce wind as the storm front passed by.
Always when a storm arrives it does so with wind. The strength of the wind varies from breeze to gale but is always strongest when the rains begin calming thereafter.
This deluge soon flooded the garden which disappeared under a few inches of water. The rate at which the rain fell quickly overwhelmed the rate at which it could be drained away.
Surprisingly the electricity stayed on. Here it is common for the electric to go off soon after the thunder and lightning get going.
Some of those lightning strikes were quite close. A bright flash followed imminently by a house shaking bang.
However much rain fell upon my house and garden I was fortunate to be living on a gently sloping hillside. So gravity always takes water somewhere else.
Not everyone is in such a position.
In the towns and cities across Paraguay streets turned to rivers as the falling rain overwhelmed all the drains.
The storm bought in its wake both damage and causalities. Cars were washed away. Walls and houses toppled. Homes filled with flood water.
Often it is the lightning which causes the most causalities. This time however it was the sheer volume of water that did the damage.
Many people will be mopping out and repairing houses for a long while.
Beyond that the storm also had a detrimental effect on peoples social lives.
This week the largest music festival for a long time was due to take place in Asuncion. It had been due to run for two days.
The first days had to be abandoned due to the storm. The danger of preforming in such conditions along with the venue turning quickly into a swamp.
After that the second day always looked in doubt. Those doubts were turned into a cancellation when the plane carrying the singer who was due to headline the festival had to make and emergency landing following a lightning strike.
For me far away from such things all I could do was sit out the storm and wait for the rains to stop.
They fell heavily all night Tuesday and all through Wednesday morning. It wad lunch time before they finally stopped. Even then the sky remained dark with the possibility of more rain.
On Wednesday however the real trouble was not the water. Instead it was the electric.
That went off soon after first light and did not come back on until midday. Then after a couple of hours it went off once more not returning until early evening.
Along with streets and houses the storm would have damaged the electric grid.
Now on Thursday two days later the sky is again black and rain is once more falling. Not with the force it fell previously but steadily and now with no wind to move the clouds on.
Additionally today whilst the electric is now functioning the water is now off. Another of the joys of living in the countryside.
That though will pass and once in a couple of days once the sun has returned I will be able to look forward to enjoying a few weeks of warm and fresh autumn days.
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