Rain Rain Go Away.....

Gosh!!! I was nearly stranded in Kuantan yesterday..... Luckily for my trusty Isuzu D-Max... No, this is not an advertisement.... It is a real life experience okay....
Well my trip to Pekan began on 12 Dec 2007 morning while I was driving up to Pekan, Pahang. Just before entering the East Coast Expressway I was diverted into the trunk road due to flash flood at the portion of the highway... so off I went on the trunk road driving at a snail pace of 60km/hr.... then onwards back on the highway at Temerloh and onwards to Pekan... on the stretch of road heading towards Pekan the road sides were already flooding and some houses were already knee deep but it was still no problem to proceed onwards... got to my plant safety..
Unfortunately at about 1530 hrs I was warned by everyone to go to Kuantan now!!! Coz apparently the roads were about to close at 1630 hrs. Rushed all my work and left and this was what I encountered...

Some smaller vehicles didnt even dare pass this stretch....

Look at the current of that flow...... So strong.....

What used to be dry land is now not dry anymore.....

All those roadworks to widen the road has gone to waste as the flood just got them back to square one....

This was only the beginning of it all.... I think this was at the flood's lowest point.... Already 3 spots on the Kuantan-Pekan road is flooded with water ranging from a few inches to half a feet...

Then the very next morning... I attempted to head into Pekan again... and what do I encounter?

This Wira is headed to the worshop for an overhaul i think...

This photo was only taken at the lowest point that day coz by the next day... the 3-point flood has increased to 7-point flood... the deepest going as deep as 1 meter in depth... the road was only accessible to 10 tonnes trucks and above... anything lower couldnt even pass... Can you imagine it... Even a Scania truck (those are really massive) was washed off the road into the ditch due to the heavy current...
So looking at this, there was no way I could possible get myself into Pekan... So I headed back to KL instead only to be greeted my the shocking news that the highway is closed off to light vehicles due to flood.. I was fretting... I did not want to be stuck in Kuantan until the flood subsides... So I started calling here and there to ask around about the condition of the flood on the highway and whether or not my D-max was considered a light vehicle... Luckily one of my frens managed to find out that the water was approximately 1 feet in depth and if I drove carefully it shouldnt be a problem for me...

As I approached the junction where all the vehicles was diverted... the highway patrolman insisted I divert as well... I was thinking... Shit!!... I hated all this diversion.. firstly coz the road is small the pace is slow too... and due to the massive amount of vehicles diverted it is was going to be jam packed making it very difficult to overtake.. I stopped to ask which route I was to take to get back to KL... the answer was that I should exit Temerloh upwards to Jerantut and down back to Raub and Bentong before entering Karak Highway at Lachang... me being the geographically challenged person didnt know how far that was but I was smart enough to call my fren and ask... the answer really bummed me... It will take me an additional 5 hours to drive that route and come out in Lanchang... What the F**k!!... As if everything wasnt bad enough yet but my fren advised me to brave the flood on the highway which then I just started bugging the highway patrolman "Bang, kereta ni tak boleh lalu ke? Betul ke tak boleh lalu?" and after a few repetitions he relented and said "Kalau you nak cuba, cubalah tapi banyak kereta pun pusing balik" which then I answered... "Okay, saya cuba la..." haha!! and off I went!!

Drove peacefully on the highway for quite a stretch...since most cars were diverted the road was quite empty until I approached the flood area... was getting a bit nervous coz I saw quite a few SUV turn around and head back to the diversion... As I got closer I was thinking... "Shit!! I am really going to drive throught this??!! Shit shit... quite deep hor... Shit Shit!!" haha!! this was my exact thought... and as i was queing up for my turn... my heart started pumping real hard... i was really nervous and worried.. I was thinking of so many what ifs... What if I get stuck in the middle? what if I mati engine?, what if the current is so strong it washes my car off the road?

Well, the moment of truth came and as I held on tightly to my steering I reved the throttle a bit before heading into the water... remembering my fren's advice I did not let of of the accelerator.. but as I got in... the car didnt seem to move much hovering between 10-20km/hr... that got me real worried... it wasnt as if I wasnt pushing on the accelerator.. but the car just wasnt moving.. but I continued on at the slow pace praying real hard it will be okay... and after completing the 100m stretch which felt more like 1km stretch the car finally hit more solid ground as it felt more itself already... Drove out of the water i turned back to look and I just said "That was fun!!!" haha!! I know..I am nuts... but after managing to get throught it, it really felt like an exhilarating experience which I really wanted to repeat... I was so tempted to turn back just to go through it once more.. but of course I didnt la.. hehe!! Unfortunately it was all so exciting that I forgot to snap some photos... Ooops... sorry... hehe!!

So I safety got myself back to KL.... and the very evening I was told that one of the bridges which accesses Pekan has partially collapse.. the sides have collapsed and the based was cracking so no vehicles no matter the size was allowed though....

Today... when I got into the office, my colleagues who were stationed in Pekan reported back that Pekan has been declared totally inaccessible and is now considered an island... this is how Pekan looks like now...

Pekan town....

On the left is the river and on the right the road... What used to be a river bank is no more and everything is just one now....
Pekan.... knee deep in water.....

For some houses, half of them are submerged in water.....

Road closure announcement, all vehicles are not allowed to pass...

Latest update is that all the petrol kiosk has shut down due to inavailability go fuel... ATMs are dried up... All basic food items are sold out... This situation is getting worse by the day... and all we can do is sit down, watch and wait... it is so sad that we are not able to help in such situations... All my prayers goes out to those in Pekan... may this flood subside soon... God bless...