A group of Western Washington humanitarian aid workers are stranded in Mexico after a torrential rain storm shut off a town from the rest of the Baja Peninsula.
Jack Hagelin was with the group Foundation for HIS Ministries, which included members of Bothell's Calvary Chapel, when the rain hit on Wednesday. "It was really coming down in buckets."
Hagelin's group was in Vicente Guerrero, distributing food, water, and building supplies to the area as part of a week long relief effort. But after a week, they were still stuck there, after the main bridge in and out of town washed away in the storm.
"The soil is alot of clay base, so it doesn't soak in, it just started running off seeking lowland, flooding the village, the whole town," says Hagelin.
Bothell firefighter John Vaaga and his wife Lori are also stuck.
"We're doing okay, we're very safe, we have food, we have electricity," says Lori.
The Vaagas say they're still focusing on the people they originally came to help.
"(The water) came up really quick," says John, "the whole team just went to work. We had to get a couple pregnant ladies across the bridge. We cabled them across, so they could get to the hospital on our side of the bridge, from the north to the south."
The Vaagas say an earthen dam must be built for them to drive out of the area, and that could be done on Monday.
But Hagelin couldn't wait, and jumped aboard a small plane to out of the region. He arrived in Seattle Monday afternoon and says he would go back if needed "absolutely I would go back, I plan to go back."
Last week's rainstorm is believed to be to blame for the disapperance of two children. The aid workers say another storm is expected in Vicente Guerrero on Tuesday.
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