How Does It Feel to Encounter a First Flood?

I wrote a post here in this blog yesterday in Javanese that recounted my first experience to encounter with flood. While I felt extremely thrilled to finally come up with a Javanese blog post, I have been overwhelmed by anxiety when faced with this calamity. Never before have I been flooded so far. That’s why a sudden pang of fear ran through me as soon as water flowed in the house.

I have lived in my hometown, Lamongan, since childhood. Not until 2000 that I left the village I was born, that was when I enrolled at the University in Semarang, Central Java. Both Semarang and Lamongan are close to the sea that make the weather unideal, characterized by extreme heat during the day and even night. Flood occurs when a torrent of heavy rain falls over the city.

I was quite mistaken by my initial understanding about my own hometown. I thought we have never had flood here in the city. That left me clueless when a teacher of mine in Senior high school remarked one day, “Aha, Lamongan, ketigo raiso cewok, rendeng raiso ndodok!” Jokingly said, it made me really puzzled not knowing what he actually intended to say.

In English the adagium clearly says, “Lamongan is the city where its people can’t clean up after defecation during dry season owing to water scarcity and yet find it difficult to sit tight during wet season due to abundance of water.” Until 18, I have never met with neither water scarcity nor flood that made us uncomfortable. No wonder I can’t relate to that expression. My view changes as soon as I have moved back to my hometown.

I live in a housing complex located near paddy fields and fish ponds. We have a nice view in front of the house as it faces North with trees and rice fields and fish ponds. This is but something I regret later. During wet season, it’s pouring with rain. Water spills off the ponds over the pavement and finally flows down the house. There are 12 houses in my block in danger of imminent flood that may be larger.

We could hardly sleep last night. We use the prayer room to rest during the night as it is elevated higher than the floor. The living room and the bedrooms are all occupied by water. Some water emerges from the ground through the line of the tiles. Some more water come from the overflowing ponds in front of the house. We had to take our books–one of dearest to us–to upper shelf and ready to leave them while we leave for my sister’s house to seek refuge.

This is the first time we have ever been flooded until everything was a mess. We weren’t ready as we never thought it would flood this severely. We are certainly upset to see what’s happening. We had our breakfast this morning thinking if our friends living in another block have something to eat or not. We couldn’t help as flood is everywhere. Not to mention, the jeopardy of current virus that tends to escalate has kept us from swarming.

This is my morning story, a Sunday I will always remember all of my life. Boys are eager to move out soon. We have packed clothes and important documents to carry. To tell you frankly, the moment we leave our house, we have placed our greatest trust in God to protect our stuff. Either by securing or destroying them. He knows best and we seek His pleasure.

What’s your story, BBC Mania?