The February flood

Again, the city of Jakarta was hit by the big flood, in February. Just like the ones in 2002 and 2004. Only this time, it was 2x worse. The water started to 'invade' our house on Thursday night, and that it would go up until (at least) 1.60 meters inside the house (and about 2 meters outside) was quite unexpected. It happened very quickly, and certainly the electricity was cut off very soon after.

That night Fina, Elis, Kadek, Ocha, Irza and I were 'camping' on the balcony. We put everything we managed to save upstairs, so it's a complete mess! We thought we had learned from the previous big floods, and certainly we thought that our things on the top shelves would be safe. And so that night we just said "wait and sleep" hoping that the next morning the water would go off already and well, another houseworks.

WRONG

The water went up and up and up. When we woke up very early on Friday morning, the water was still very high. We looked down from our balcony, saw people 'swimming' in the flood, we could only see their heads above the water. Turned out they're guys from our neighborhood, working very hard hand-in-hand to put ropes along the streets so that people can hang on them since the current in that particular junction (just below our balcony) was very strong.

Some rescue teams on rubber boats started to operate, going around the neighborhood picking up people to go to the unflooded street which is located higher than our area. Some of our neighbors were stuck in our balcony waiting for their turn to be rescued, due to the strong current. Finally the rescue boats came, after the ropes were readjusted. The water was already almost 2 meters high at that time, and the small kids were quite frightened, because they had to step on the edge of our balcony and then jump to the boat. One of the rescuer on the boat had to bend so that people could step on his back, another rescuer helped holding them, while others just kept hanging on the rope. Everytime the boat reached the other end of the street, there were cheers and hurrays from everyone on the boat and those who were watching from the roofs around. There are several Mosques who quickly organized shelters, 'emergency kitchens' and health centers, as well as provided the neighborhood with fresh water. No electricity so we spent sort of 'candlelight' nights, talking with our neighbors who also stayed on the rooftop of their houses. Sometimes it could be cold and lots of mosquitos. But thanksfully we have stove and gas on the balcony. We could have coffee and cook instant noodles, the guys from the mosque would go around and deliver food (rice, fried egg and vegetables) to everyone stuck on the roof. Still, all we wanted was the water to goes off, and that we could start to clean up (and no more balcony camping...)

Sunday night...finally the water decreased, at least one meter, and we could go downstairs and see the damages the flood had cause. I almost cried. We saw the refrigerator and furnitures floating. And this is the hardest part: the bookshelves had collapsed, and my books...drawn in the muddy water!

My house mates and I tried to save the books, some of them were still in shape but wet and muddy, but most of the 'pretty' books (designs, interior, cookbooks...) were destroyed already. Some books were saved, though, my housemates managed to save them upstairs while we still had the electricity on, and some of them were on top of the tall cupboard.

Well, I'm very sad but what can I say. I think this is a big lesson in letting go. My mother, with her cheerful voice as usual, told me on the phone what she believes: every loss is a sign that something better is on its way to us. "It's an excuse to restart your life", she said - and giggling "a simpler one, because you have less things now". Thanks Mom! :-)

Some pictures taken from our balcony











Us the girls staying on the balcony



Never knew it could be nice to have a coffee time on the roof...



The water recedes. Let's go downstairs to see the situation



Couldn't believe what I saw...



I had to say goodbye to many of my books :-(



To go out buying brushes and cleaning products, Fina and I had to cross the flood. Felt like a girlscout again.