Rainy Times

The flooding back home was really bad. Normally its the Western end of the country that suffer the constant flooding. Now it was the turn for the BSB'ian. The one and only underpass got most people's attention - it was like a canal. Here it has also been wet in the last few days. Add that with the gusting wind and cold weather, indeed quite a trying time for cycling. Yesterday even in full gear I was soaking wet when I reached home. This morning I dared again on my two wheels to the office. I was really soaky by the time I reached there. My office colleagues were amazed. Even my Dutch colleague ducked out and went on the tram.

Today while cycling home in the wet, by the side of one of the main canals, I was wondering how come the Dutch managed to cope with the danger of flooding. In fact a quarter of the surface area of the country is below sea level, hence highly flood prone areas. That's equivalent to an area of more than ten thousands square km, twice the size of Brunei. Yet with all the daily rains that this country face and the danger of the North Sea becoming violent, the country hardly suffer any flood catastrophe. The devastating floods in 1953 which killed nearly 2000 people provided a wake-up call to the government.