15-Jan-2021
They'd been telling us for a while that La Nina would make our rainy season more intense. But it didn't seem to be happening.
Well, now we've seen what they mean.
Rain has featured in two posts recently. But yesterday it got really dramatic.
The problem is that we've not only had a HEAP of rain, but we also have king tides all week. Our water control system (barrage + numerous telemetry stations) works really well. But when you've got a ton of water outside the barrage, plus a ton of water coming down the river, it stands to reason that occasionally something has to give.
We've been aware for a long time that our nearest big road runs along atop the Padungan River, which empties out into the huge Sarawak River about a 15-minute walk away.
But last night we found out that when the big river is full, and they can't let any more water out (because of the tide), then "our" river backs up, and floods the area...
The rain had actually stopped well before the approach of evening, yet even with nothing falling from the sky, the water slowly rose. I've never witnessed anything quite like that. We're on the sixth floor, and our apartment building is built on a slight rise, but you can easily imagine the anxiety of house-owners with lower-situated properties.
There's a frequently updated government website where you can check out the water levels on the whole system, and at 18.45 (by which time the tide was already receding, as we knew from our handy almanac), we'd breached the "danger" level.
This poor garden seems to have a direct link to the river... Here it is a little flooded (although at this point actually not as badly as we'd seen it in November)
A bit later, though, and quite a lake is forming...
... and now the water is all across the road
To our right, one of the houses we walk past on our way into town
The junction of Jalan Deshon and Jalan Central
The corner by the new supermarket
Judging by the number of neighbours coming out to take photos, we're guessing this is a very unusual phenomenon, for which we do probably have La Nina to blame.
There's definitely a picturesqueness to it (so long as your house isn't getting flooded...)
It's not just our locality, of course. By yesterday evening, over 1,000 people in the Kuching area had been evacuated to relief centres, and almost 2,000 state-wide. All doubly concerning, of course, with Spikes on the rampage...
I'll leave you with a couple more rainy-day images:
Breakfast and post-breakfast activities on the balcony sometimes need a bit of extra protection these days...
The balloon that got lost in the rainstorm. Not as dramatic as the otter that got lost in the rainstorm, and turned up at the Council building yesterday...
Ay me... Plague. Flood. We could do with a bit of calm round here...