sorry for the long absence…
last saturday i awoke from my sleep to hear yelping coming from the kids room.
in the back of my mind i was aware that there was a thunderstorm going on, but it wasn't enough to seriously wake me up. there have been so many late nights recently…i wanted to snooze until at least 8am. i am selfish that way.
but the yelping got me up. it was unlike the typical "you have something i want give it back" timbre yelp, and it was a bit disconcerting.
i turned on to my back, and became aware that underneath my eyelids was going white then immediately dark again, and that there were crashes and booms right alongside our flat. there was a rainstorm unlike anything i had ever seen before. and i have been here for 11 years.
turns out, it was a black rain storm, with 145mm (a metre and a half) of rain coming down on hong kong between 8 – 9am. it was the highest hourly rainfall since records began. from midnight until 6pm on june 7, 308 mm of rain fell, the fifth highest daily rainfall recorded in june. but the real kicker was between 8-9am.
539 flooding reports were recorded, and two deaths were recorded as well.
check out this youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on7PtuDghSs&feature=related
around 2.30 there shows a couple on their way to their traditional wedding…gorgeous footage!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfZsun3CW9s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqPht9TCthY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajr6bzxDs44&NR=1
the entire family went for a walk. the triplets made it as far as the front gates. then the thunder and lightening freaked them out to such an extent they wanted to head home, so i took them home and they consoled themselves spectacularly by wearing my high heels and walking up and down the carpet runner/catwalk.
sebastian and charles walked down the hospital drive and into the hospital, where they saw the ground floor of the hospital, which is against the mountain, was covered in water. the force of the water had broken down a set of doors, and there were seniors shuffling along the corridors, pushing their oxygen tanks, ankle deep in water. he took a few pictures. it was really incredible he said.
we went for a drive after the rain stopped (and it stopped very suddenly) and saw boulders in the road, branches and so much silt. and deep deep puddles. it was really amazing. the kids were overwhelmed.
then we started getting calls from friends telling us how they had been caught in traffic for three hours, and then we started getting calls from loved ones asking if we were all right. and thankfully, we were. my email isn't however, all my emails are sitting in my outbox instead of my "sent" box, and i can't figure out what is going on. oh well, that's a small problem when all is said and done.
