As I’m writing this, I’m listening to the pitter patter of rain. No, not the pitter-patter but rather a constant rat-a-tat-tat like a machines going off. It’s been this way for the past 24-hours solid. The ran alternated from fierce to insanely fierce and has only let up once, for about 10 minutes.
And so, we have on our hands a flood. Drainage systems are not the best in China and this deluge has proven too much. Flooding of 6 feet and more is being reported in neighboring towns like parts of Hangzhou and other smaller cities. I took the pics in this post from dozens circulating around Chinese social media websites.
Adding to this atrocious weather is today is the last day of the week long National Day holiday. So, millions of travelers are on the roads and in the sky trying to get back in time for work and school tomorrow. So it’s a total clusterf*@^k. On my feeds for weibo and weixin are students complaining of 2 hour trips that have stretched into 4-5 hours without an end in sight. “Starving to death,” or “my phone is about to run out of battery,” is two constant updates I’ve been getting. But those with batteries are sending out pics from buses of rivers overflowing and the puddles 2 feet deep. Many of the buses have stopped running, stranding many students at bus stops around Zhejiang Province.
Also, many of my friends in Hangzhou have been informed that tomorrows classes are cancelled. But unfortunately here in Lin’an we are still waiting for word. The school has sent out a warning message (during flooding manholes fill up, the covers float off making a potential disaster. The school has jammed old bikes in the open manholes so alert people to walk around. It looks quite funny, a busted, askew bike jutting out in the middle of the road, but it is safer.) but no actual class cancellation. Everyones kind of on pins and needles expecting it. But in my 5 years here we have never had a day of cancelled class despite snow, rain or even no electricity.
My place is fine. I’m on a slight incline and surrounded by soft, spongy forest to absorb the water. But the rest of campus isn’t so lucky and if we do indeed have class tomorrow I know the path between my place and class floods easily, so I might need more time to take the long way round. Because the rain isn’t expected to stop anytime soon. At least another 12-24 hours of it before we see the sun. After one day it’s so bad I wonder what 2 days will bring.
I’m gonna keep my eye out for Noah.
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