It was a rainy Raya.
Family was in town (at Pavilion, to be precise) so I decided to meet them over there, bringing a shop'oholic martian along.
Took off at 5pm in a joyous festive mood, even the sight of very unfriendly cloud-formation did not dampen our spirit.
We should have known...
Faster than you can spell 'cumulonimbus', rain drops were already splattering loudly on the windscreen as if they were trying to force their way through. In no time, the highway was already covered in inches-deep of water. Speeding-by cars were creating magnificent yet deadly splashes of water no thanks to the unevenness of the tarmac. At one point, I had zero visibility (no bullshit) as the splash created by a car at the right lane landed on my windscreen.
Seeing the jam ahead (we were on MidRingRoad2), presumably due to some flooded section(s) of the highway, I took an exit and tried to wriggle out of the mess through a detour. Rain was still pouring. A quick glance to the side saw the martian was turning her knuckles white. After some lame jokes, her fear was slightly allayed. But even I was not prepared for what was ahead.
It was at a T-junction. A bus and a Myvi were stationary as we were approaching. I thought they were giving way to the traffic from the right. But as soon as I saw the reverse signal of the bus, I knew something was terribly wrong ahead.
As the bus was making a U-turn, I realized that the road, from just a few metres away to the end of sight was severely flooded. The martian suddenly shrieked and pointed feebly to the front -
a Waja was half-submerged in water. Apparently, the lady driver had attempted to drive through the water but unfortunately ran out of luck at the last few yards. We then saw the driver and the passengers (all ladies) abandoned the car and waded across the waist-deep water.
If a bus is chicken-ing out, what chance do I have? With my jaw still dropping, I quickly made a U-turn. The road back was almost unrecognizable with the rising water level. Then, I noticed an ironic sight as I was stopping at the traffic lights. An underground water supply pipeline had burst and water came gushing out like bubbling porridge.
Redefining 'adding fuel to fire'...
The wippers were still on max speed.
By this time, we have came to the conclusion that the odds of us making to Pavilion unscathed is almost nil. After some cautious driving, we finally reached the interchange into the highway. Just when you thought you can drive back home and put the nightmarish episode away, the stretch of road going into the highway was flooded wheel-deep.
Desperate to get back home asap, I floored the gas pedal. On hindsight, it was a fool's bravery act as I could have easily gotten ourselves stranded. After some nervous seconds, my trusty Fernari managed 'sail' through the water. To give you an idea how bad the situation was, a Toyota from the opposite direction was stalled in the middle of the flooded stretch.
What followed was a 20 minutes 'Honey,-you-sure-we've-not-entered- a-parking-lot?' sort of jam. Fellow motorists were getting out of their car to check out the situation ahead. Armed with a camphone, I followed suit as the rain has slowed down to a drizzle.
No. no. This is not an al fresco cinema.
About 100 metres ahead from my car (and the martian), the connecting road to the main lanes was in crotch-deep about 1.5 feet of muddy water. Fortunately, the water subsided considerably after a few minutes and all of us managed to get through it. While I was walking back to my car, I noticed that my car registration plate had gone missing. Dammit! Must have snapped under water during my car's virgin 'sail/voyage'.
Got home dumbstruck and phoned dad.
Wasted RM6 on toll. Hopefully can get a new plate on Monday. Until then, I'll have to drive like a fugitive on the run.
Should'nt our Discovery Channel-featuring and RM2-toll SMART tunnel be functioning by now?
