It’s not that I really missed playing on flooded areas (I used to enjoy it back in the Philippines), it was just I need to do it to reach Ali’s (my officemate) home for us to reach Gulf News in time. I folded the lower part of my pants (literally, if you just saw me, I was not like a person going to office, but like a fisherman preparing for a day’s work in the sea…) and started walking through the freezing cold flood water.
So after 20 minutes of suffering the coldness of the water and the pouring of light rain , with my feet almost numb, I finally reached Ali’s place and we went to office immediately. Still, traffic was so bad. Most major roads going to Dubai were still flooded. On the way, we saw the gravity of the situation. Cars stuck in the middle of the street due to the floods were everywhere, garbage and different kinds of filth were scattered in every direction you look at.
Last night I thought I could have another day off, but to no avail, there we were in the office, despite tha fact that we still don’t know whether we will be able to go home later that night, we’re there working our asses off while the whole of Dubai (especially Sharjah!) was soundly sleeping…
Hope tomorrow most of the major roads will be cleared out of flood so that I won’t have to go through the same experience again.
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I woke up early today. My officemate who I am riding with was sick so I have to get a bus to reach Gulf News. I went down our building at around quarter to five and was surprised that it was raining. Covered with jacket, I walked towards the main road to catch a cab to the bus station. But on my way there, I stopped because of what I saw… FLOOD!!!! Again, I was surprised. I thought I already left this problem behind in the Philippines. So, I walked around to find a way out of our block to reach the bus station in time, but to no avail, everywhere I went is flooded knee high. To add up to the problem, no cabs were entering our place for the so obvious reason that they might get stuck in the flood.
I was left with no option but to call my boss and inform her of my situation. Luckily, she immediately understood me because she herself was stuck in traffic going to office and it was already 10 past 9. I asked her if I could just take the day off and she obliged. Thank God she was very understanding today (because usually she isn’t).
So what shall I do today? I decided to walk around (the flood) and took pictures of the area flooded. It was chaos on the streets. Vehicles are literally like parked because all of them were not moving. Some unfortunate ones were stuck in flood water because their engines wouldn’t start. If it was in the Philippines, you would see street children swimming on the streets treating the flooded areas like a giant swimming pool.
So, why did it flood? Well, according to sources I cannot disclose (he he he…), when roads in the UAE were being developed they have never anticipated rains of this magnitude. Who would? This country is supposed to be composed of 80% desert and is supposed to be not expecting any rain at all. They never even included
drainage systems on the road, that’s why when it rained continuously over night all rain water was stuck on roads making it a big swamp.
One good thing about this is that I felt a little bit close to home. Although floods are not the typical ways to make you remember the Philippines, in this case it did. And it did put a smile in my face. I remembered my days back in college where I used to walk through flood just to reach school to make it in time for exams. Ha, the good old days in the Phillippines… how I miss it a lot…
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