One Saturday night after attending a Christmas Party, we came home to the sound of water flowing in the drain at the side of our house. It appeared that a pipe had burst and since this was a regular event, and it was very late we retired.
Unknowingly to us, one of the Water and Sewerage Authority main water lines that pass through the empty lot overlooking our house had burst.
The next morning the water was still flowing, but while I was in the kitchen preparing breakfast, I was startled by a sudden loud noise and heard water gushing down our driveway.
I quickly peeped through the kitchen window to see what had happened. To my astonishment there was a huge landslide at the top of the driveway and it was still coming down. I immediately called out to my husband and my son.
We quickly drove the cars from the garage and headed to the road outside of our house. From the road we could see that a huge part of the empty lot that overlooks our house had slipped and was now in our backyard and some of it was also in one of our next door neighbour’s backyard.
There were also huge rocks still making their way to the back of our house.
The water which was shooting up in the air and down into the empty lot was eventually re-routed by a gentleman who lives on the other side of the neighbourhood.
We live in a valley. Our house is on one side of the hill and this gentleman’s house is on the other side. Below is a view of his house from our porch. Look closely and you will see a pink and white house with a roof that looks like part of a triangle.
He must have looked out from his porch and seeing the water shooting up with such force and recognizing what was happening ran to his car and drove up to the empty property and placed the burst pipe in the road, so that the water could flow in the road instead of in the property.
We had never met this person before. This was around seven thirty on Sunday morning. We know that the damage could have been worse if he did not turn re-route the water.
That morning, sitting outside on the steps in front of our house all I can say is : Why Me? Why us? Why did this have to happen to us?
The landslide dumped tons and tons of soil, debris and rocks at the back of our house and stopped a couple of inches away from the house. Water tanks, fruit, vegetable trees and some flowering plants in addition to fences and railings were all destroyed.
That day I was very concerned about going inside and even sleeping in our house since it was also raining heavily and this was causing more sludge and rocks to slide down.
I cannot remember ever praying so much. I kept telling myself this house is ours, it was through God we got it and we are not leaving. I know God was watching over us. Why would this guy who we do not know leave his house, early Sunday morning and drive to the other side of the hill to re-route the water from our house? Also he never came to our house. He did what he had to do and returned to his house. Amazing isn’t it? How many people do you know would do this?
Investigations revealed that the pipe had been leaking for a while, so when it burst, the soil was already saturated, leaving nowhere for it to go but down.
Thank God the Water and Sewerage Authority handled all the clean-up. It took a long time because of the volume of soil and rocks.
My husband and I did not take time off from work as our sons were home for the Christmas Holidays, but every day I would go home for lunch to see the progress. It was difficult to concentrate at work.
Just imagine an excavator at the back of this house and the only way to get there is up a steep driveway and up some steps, and there is another house at the side of the driveway.
The clean-up exercise was eventually completed on Christmas Eve just in time for Christmas celebrations.
This was the most traumatizing event that has ever occurred to me and my family and when I look back I realize that as a result of this event I now have a closer Relationship with God. I also got to meet the owner of the empty lot, and we got the opportunity to re-design our back yard. We are also more aware of what is happening around us and around our home.
We all have troubles in some way or another. I could have chosen to say where is God in all this, but I know deep down, that some way, somehow he is close by because of the things that happen that cannot be explained.
I would love to hear your ‘Why Me’ stories and what you learnt from it.