There was a flood in Sibu in many areas of the town today. The water
levels started rising last night, allegedly from the rains in Kapit
(upstream from Sibu via Rejang River). The central roads were even
flooded and unfortunately I did not take the Sibu town/Lanang Road
route but the parallel one, passing through Jalan Alan (!!!) instead.
Jalan Alan is a notoriously low level area where I was also caught
unaware during the rainy season last year. I drove through anyway…
I have crossed swords with greater foes than you, puny pool of water!
I did not manage to take any photos of me navigating the Jalan Alan
route though because I was too busy doing battle with the water. I felt
like I was driving a boat instead of the car and had to rev the engine
really hard to keep moving. I feared it would stall in the middle and
it nearly did, I think water got into the exhaust and it wouldn’t start
properly. However, revving the engine (which I would imagine would
clear the water out) helped and I was soon on my way again.
The above photo was taken today at Jalan Alan. Two cars stalled
there – a Proton Perdana and a Proton Iswara. I managed to get through
all right though (always rev the engines hard – amateur advice, but
tried and true nevertheless). The Jalan Salim interchange was too much
for me to brave though:
You may not pass!
I reckon if that trailer didn’t dare to risk it, it would be common
sense for me not to pass that way either. For what it’s worth, it was really deep, much deeper than the Jalan Alan flood. Here’s a final photo to cap it all up:
The police were getting out perahus/sampans (boats) to rescue trapped people.
I got out alright though, except my car had partial amnesia…the
front licence plate was washed away by the force of the water pressure
while driving through the flood lar. :p
On another note, I’ll be flying to KL early tomorrow and I won’t
come back to Sibu again, I’ll be flying straight to Kuching on the
morning of the 31st.
