Rain, rain go away!

Florida has the most amazing thunder and lightning storms. Yesterday late afternoon was one of the most fierce. You can feel it coming. There's a blackness in the sky that is lurking it's way towards you and at that point you feel this sudden urgency to get the horses in from the paddocks, close the shutters on the stall windows and make sure that there are no horses on the treadmill. You know that the storm is upon you when temperature drops and then suddenly the loudest thunder hits with amazing lightning bolts! The thunder is so loud it almost sounds as if the sky is splitting in half then within an instant the skies literally open up and it rains like you would not believe. It completely dumps down rain. The rains in Florida remind me of the tropics of Costa Rica. It rains so heavy and so hard that the earth cannot take it all in and it doesn't settle. The ground just fills with water.
Last week after my quick little lay out time at the beach I could see the black sky coming my way so I decided it was time to head out. Once I got in my car and started heading home it rained SO hard, I could hardly see the road. Traffic slowed to about 20 mph, I had my windshield wipers on full blast and was struggling to see road signs and the lines on the road. There was at least 6 in. of water on the road. When trying to make my way through the angry storm there was water splashing up along the sides of my car from the river that was forming on the road.
I went to Miami for St. Paddies Day and there was a similar rain storm. Maiken (working student from Denmark) and I were in a club dancing the night away with no care in the world except the rhythm of the music. When it was time for everyone to leave there was a huge line at the door and we couldn't understand why people weren't exiting. The night was over and it was time for us all to go home. Maiken and I pushed our way through the crowd to get closer to the door and then understood why there was a crowd at the door. There we saw the monstrous rain coming down outside. Well we weren't going to just stand there and wait for it to settle down! So we pushed our way through the double doors and went out into the rain. For some reason at the time is seemed like a good idea and I have to say that it was an adventure but completely insane! There was so much water that it was flowing onto the sidewalks! I was literally wading through water and we had several blocks to go before we got to our final destination! I just kept telling Maiken that I couldn't believe the rain, it was unreal and we were laughing our heads off in disbelief! There were cars trying to drive through the force of mother nature and water was up to the bottom of the cars! When we finally got to the hostel we were completely soaked and I mean completely! I felt like a drowned rat and am pretty sure that we were a sight to be seen. Our hair was completely wet, we had make-up running down our faces and our clothes were sticking to us like wet noodles! Completely crazy! The bazaar thing is that it isn't cold just very very wet! The next day I found a leaf in my shoe that must have gotten in there from treading through the water.
Usually what happens is these tropical storms come through with an incredible force and they do their thing then when it's all done the sun shines again and it's blue skies again. It becomes calm the birds begin to sing and it's like nothing ever happened. Blows me away a bit. Although yesterday the blue skies did not return and it drizzled a bit for the rest of the evening and into the night. It is bazaar to me because it's gray and wet yet warm. Coming from the northwest one would expect it to be cold out by the sights of it but I was sweating under my jacket. At about 2:00am this morning (I'm guessing what time it was) there was another thunder storm and I woke to the sound of it raining outside this morning. I have to say that it was kind of comforting. Reminded me of home.