The raindrops poured down to the earth in hordes. It’d been going on like this for some time already that day, and no one really expected anything to emerge from this relentless downpour. Some noticed that it seemed to be going on interminably, but everyone seemed to ignore the looming reality that had occurred several times in our neighbourhood- the chance of flooding. It had been quite some time since such a phenomenon had last come upon us, and even then it was quite minor- only spanning our living room in my case. I was upstairs, killing time until dinner came, as the rain continued to tumble from the ominous grey canopy levitating above our houses.
Some time later, I decided to go downstairs, and that’s when I saw my family frantically running around, hands laden with boxes, scrambling to find a place of safety for them.My curiousity was piqued, and I headed to the window, to be greeted with an intriguing and terrifying sight. The storm drains were packed up and as a result all the water streaming down from the heavens had culminated in a flood, that was rapidly rising and threatening to enter our house any minute. My family was frantically trying to stuff up the gaps in our doorway with towels and mats.
But it would be inevitable that the defences became waterlogged and soon a steady stream was soon trickling into a living room. The puddle quickly spread despite our efforts, and when it was finally time for dinner three-quarters of the floor was drenched in rainwater. As we ate, the atmosphere around the table plagued with tension and stress, the rain and the water entry persisted, until it had rose to cover about two inches off our living room floor. The living room was by then completely off limits.
To make matters worse, the water soon started to turn a deep murky hue and give off a terrible smell. There wasn’t very much to do now that the living room was flooded except pace, sit, and worry, especially about the rising water levels around the back door that was threatening to engulf our kitchen too.
I eventually had to stop fretting and head up to bed. Everything was fine for a couple minutes, but suddenly all the lights, fans and air-conditioning units instantly switched off and the house was plunged into darkness and stifling heat. We lit a candle and left it outside upstairs, but to no avail. To make matters worse, the water had just breached the kitchen step and had flooded our dining room and kitchen. I sat outside of my room on the floor, in a state of mental numbness, eventually just lying on the ground by the candle light, not thinking about much.
But that night had to be one of the most torturous attempts to sleep of my life. The air-conditioning was hot, so the heat was absolutely unbearable. That in itself was terrible, as my eczema flared up unbearably quick, but the worst part was that there was absolutely no electricity, so I couldn’t turn on the lights to while away the time or the fan to at least give myself some relief- all I could do was stare outside at the floodwaters in a mild coma, watching some other night owls mill around and help. I only got snatches of sleep uncomfortably, and when I woke up for the last time and saw the time at 5.45am, I decided to go downstairs and help out for a bit. I ended up spending around an hour using my phone as a torchlight while someone else cleaned out all the floodwaters from the dining room. It looked absolutely filthy, disgusting and coated in mud, that area did.
And, at probably the most inopportune time ever, almost an hour later, the electricity switched back on again.
But our work was far from done. The house was in a mess. Actually, scrap that- the entire COMPOUND, from my house to my cousin’s two blocks over, was in a mess. Although most of the water had drained out, the ground was now left coated in a layer of soggy mud and debris, with a clear waterline showing up on all the outer walls. Our dining room was a complete mess and the table was cluttered with miscellaneous objects, let alone our living room, which was soaking wet as we tried to clean out all the dirt and grime. And of course, there was tons of objects cached in the storerooms that were completely ruined in the floodwaters, sitting in a messy, filthy pile outside. The entire house was in a state of disorder.
The rest of the day for me was spent in a blur, between helping out on the house with various tasks such as sweeping floodwater out of the house and rubbing down the mud-caked chairs, to working on some of my own projects (homework and a historical fiction story that’s coming very soon).
It eventually took us a solid three days to sort out both our house and our entire compound. Several objects suffered greatly from the flood, as we found out in the aftermath- namely the fridge, the washing machine and many of our cars, resulting in a flurry of tow trucks arriving at our house on consecutive days. But at least now, the tail of the storm has disappeared and we can return to our normal lives- at least, until the next incident.
But it would be inevitable that the defences became waterlogged and soon a steady stream was soon trickling into a living room. The puddle quickly spread despite our efforts, and when it was finally time for dinner three-quarters of the floor was drenched in rainwater. As we ate, the atmosphere around the table plagued with tension and stress, the rain and the water entry persisted, until it had rose to cover about two inches off our living room floor. The living room was by then completely off limits.
To make matters worse, the water soon started to turn a deep murky hue and give off a terrible smell. There wasn’t very much to do now that the living room was flooded except pace, sit, and worry, especially about the rising water levels around the back door that was threatening to engulf our kitchen too.
I eventually had to stop fretting and head up to bed. Everything was fine for a couple minutes, but suddenly all the lights, fans and air-conditioning units instantly switched off and the house was plunged into darkness and stifling heat. We lit a candle and left it outside upstairs, but to no avail. To make matters worse, the water had just breached the kitchen step and had flooded our dining room and kitchen. I sat outside of my room on the floor, in a state of mental numbness, eventually just lying on the ground by the candle light, not thinking about much.
But that night had to be one of the most torturous attempts to sleep of my life. The air-conditioning was hot, so the heat was absolutely unbearable. That in itself was terrible, as my eczema flared up unbearably quick, but the worst part was that there was absolutely no electricity, so I couldn’t turn on the lights to while away the time or the fan to at least give myself some relief- all I could do was stare outside at the floodwaters in a mild coma, watching some other night owls mill around and help. I only got snatches of sleep uncomfortably, and when I woke up for the last time and saw the time at 5.45am, I decided to go downstairs and help out for a bit. I ended up spending around an hour using my phone as a torchlight while someone else cleaned out all the floodwaters from the dining room. It looked absolutely filthy, disgusting and coated in mud, that area did.
And, at probably the most inopportune time ever, almost an hour later, the electricity switched back on again.
But our work was far from done. The house was in a mess. Actually, scrap that- the entire COMPOUND, from my house to my cousin’s two blocks over, was in a mess. Although most of the water had drained out, the ground was now left coated in a layer of soggy mud and debris, with a clear waterline showing up on all the outer walls. Our dining room was a complete mess and the table was cluttered with miscellaneous objects, let alone our living room, which was soaking wet as we tried to clean out all the dirt and grime. And of course, there was tons of objects cached in the storerooms that were completely ruined in the floodwaters, sitting in a messy, filthy pile outside. The entire house was in a state of disorder.
The rest of the day for me was spent in a blur, between helping out on the house with various tasks such as sweeping floodwater out of the house and rubbing down the mud-caked chairs, to working on some of my own projects (homework and a historical fiction story that’s coming very soon).
It eventually took us a solid three days to sort out both our house and our entire compound. Several objects suffered greatly from the flood, as we found out in the aftermath- namely the fridge, the washing machine and many of our cars, resulting in a flurry of tow trucks arriving at our house on consecutive days. But at least now, the tail of the storm has disappeared and we can return to our normal lives- at least, until the next incident.
No comments:
Post a Comment