Friday, February 01, 2008

Here we go again?

We woke to the sound of rain tapping on the roof, which is always pleasant, but which also has a distinctly ominous quality at this time of year in Jakarta. It was one year ago, almost to the day, that the city was struck by catastrophic floods.

It was the kind of heavy rain that seemed ready to keep going for weeks. We walked out of the apartment to look for a cab, and within moments we were drenched up to our knees, despite our umbrellas. The sky was dark -- or as Wallace Stevens might have said, it was evening all morning.


Sure enough, the flood-prone parts of the city were underwater. The roads were mostly fine, but every now and then you'd hit a major water crossing. We had a mid-morning appointment in town. It ended up taking much of the day just to get there and back.



We took the busway home because we heard it was pretty much the only way to get down Jl. Sudirman, the main north-south thoroughfare. The area around the Sarinah department store, where we got stuck two years ago, was flooded. Passing through it, I kind of felt like I was riding in a gondola.



We made a bet on how deep it would be at Benhill Market. Chad thought there would only be scattered pools of water left; I said it would be ankle-deep. Guess who won?

1 comment:

Elyani said...

Trish, unlike last year this time my place was not badly affected. Only a pool of water outside and a bit inside the kitchen. No running water from PAM since yesterday, in fact water supply has been slow the last few weeks. Perhaps I should learn to make use of the rain water for bathing. Or better yet, take a shower outside literally :)