A flood devastation report 

Witness describes the floody experience here!!

Flash flooding is the most hazardous weather disaster in the United States. Floods cause power outages, damage infrastructure, trigger landslides and can be deadly. 

Heavy rainfall in short period of time causes water to rise rapidly, elevating the risk of flooding. But in our case as reported by Kirine Smith from California, flood arose due to construction work near dam. 

She explains her calamitous experience in the following words.....

  "Wake up, Kirine, hurry!" my father shouted urgently. "The water is rising fast!" I opened my eyes drearily. From the open window, I saw the swirling dark waters. The water had reached the halfway up the guava tree in our backyard! I could not believe my eyes. I jumped out of bed, grabbed my precious mobile phone that grandma had just given me for my birthday and followed my father up the attic (a space or room inside the roof of a building). My other siblings were already there, huddled around my mother. Their eyes were red from crying and my mother was trying to console them. 

        "The boat will be here shortly. Don't worry. Uncle Mark has promised that he will bring us a boat", my father said firmly, trying his best to appear unperturbed by the situation. 

         Strangely, there was no rain. I found out later that a dam had burst. Construction work on a new subway line nearby had destabilised the dam. That was the reason for the sudden flood. It was a good thing the house was built on concrete stilts. Sadly, we could not save the poultry that we reared in our backyard. Tim, our pet dog, was also missing. 

        Ten minutes had passed but no boat was in sight. The water level was still rising. On my hindsight, I remember the front gate was ajar, we even forgot to close that. My mother wrung her fingers anxiously and cried out, "Oh dear, where is that boat?" 

        In no time, the water had reached the living room floor. Then, "Crack!" We heard a loud cracking noise before the whole house collapsed. The foundation must have given way because of all that water. 

        I found myself struggling in the rushing waters. A lot of dangerous debris was floating about. I could hear piercing screams as my siblings struggled to remain afloat. Clinging onto a piece of driftwood, I tried my best to bring my siblings together as I was the strongest swimmer among them. In the dark, I could see little. The current was quite strong and they were kicking and splashing around wildly. I found myself fighting an uphill battle to control them. My parents and grandma were also nowhere to be found. After an arduous struggle, I found myself being carried away by the turbulent waters. Tears streamed down my face as I thought about the predicament my family must be in. 

       Finally, I landed near a small hillock. I was pleasantly surprised and totally overjoyed to see all my family members there, shaken but safe. It had turned out that Tim, our heroic dog, had appeared out of nowhere to drag grandma to safety. Mum and Dad managed to cling onto a large tree branch that was floating by. As for my siblings, they were able to cling onto car tyres that came drifting past from the tyre shop across the street. 

        Perhaps, the heavens were shining on us that day. Although we lost our house, we counted ourselves lucky and were extremely thankful that we escaped with our lives intact. This is all how Kirine and her whole family were saved to haven. It was a huge loss of dollars i.e: on her house, car, poultry and obviously the households! But they considered themselves lucky as they remained intact after such a devastation.

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