Water Log: Some highlights

For the last week and a half we feel like we have been living on an island! Our area of the city has had flooding since late August, but the recently the water became so high that classes at Bible school had to be called off.

This amount of flooding hasn't happened in previous years. It seems its not just due to lots of rain, rather brought on by city planning activities. I have a collection of news articles and letters to the editor you can read by clicking here.

I have been logging about it daily on my water log, but here are some of the main events.

Some of our neighbours and most students aren't living here at the moment. Most of the buildings are higher than the water, including our house. We're very glad about that knowing that there's all sorts of germs in the smelly water. It used to be brown, its turning green now.

On Sunday 9th Nov, the water was higher than I had ever seen before, so I ran around taking heaps of photos (Day 82). But the next day it was even higher so I took even more photos! (Day 83, part 1 and 2). That week was a holiday week anyway, so most people were away. We had stocked up on food as we planned to stay home during Water Festival when the city gets really crowded.

We felt like we were living by a lake. We enjoyed some relaxing brunches as we watched the sparkling waters of Lake Car Park.

One day I ventured off the island and took some photos you can see by clicking here. That day I saw a boat on our street, and water being pumped into a nearby street (I thought the side of roads was for drains to drain away the water??)

As soon as we saw a dry patch of ground we took a photo which you can see here. That was last Wednesday, and the water has been going down since. Rainy season is over and cool season is here. It has been very chilly, one morning it was down to 23 deg.C! Where are my socks!

It has rained since then, but I think it must be cool season rain rather than rainy season rain, as the water is still going down each day.

We have had students over for meals, and seen some sunsets over Lake Soccer Field as you can see here.

We have been walking with fish and watching trees die and fall over as their roots become too water logged. (Photo here)

And this week we are watching the water level fall, each day we go and look to see how the shore line has moved. (Photos here)

Its reminded me of when I was in quarantine during SARS (China, 03), not being able to come and go freely, being isolated. When I was stuck home alone then I emailed people heaps (some of you may remember getting emails from me every few minutes!) This time I blogged on my Kronicle Extra.