And I don’t mean a wussy little pitter patter of gentle droplets.
Oh, no. Not gentle at all.
Well, to start with, it began at around 2pm and lasted until about 3.30pm. The sky was dark, dark, dark. And the sky opened and the rain poured down. It was a heavy rain, heavy enough to soak a person completely in a matter of seconds. Heavy winds, too, which caused the angle and direction the rain came down in to change. In the beginning, it came down very close to vertical, but for at least a half hour there, it came down at a 45 degree angle – no jokes, no exaggerations!
The winds and rain were heavy enough that, after ten minutes of rain, our next door neighbor’s tv antenna was knocked over – the metal just crumpled. So it might have been an aluminum pole for all I know, but that’s beside the point.
We have a back balcony, about 4 feet wide, and the roof extends beyond the balcony an additional 3 or 4 feet. While I stood in the dining room a foot or two from the doors, I was getting hit by rain. Of course I had to close all the doors and windows, but that didn’t stop the rain from coming in.
The rainfall was heavy heavy heavy. Our balcony was completely covered in water and it even seeped into the dining room and kitchen – it came in about five feet. Keep in mind that we’re on the upper floor, so we’re not getting flooded from water at ground level.
Major thunder and lightning, and for a while there, it was right over my head, as well as everywhere else. The lightning was happening all over the sky. When it got that close, I shut the power off to everything. It seemed the safest thing to do here. It stayed over my head for about fifteen minutes before finally moving on. Then, I turned the power back on. But guess what?
Power outage. This happens here frequently when it rains. But let me be honest – if it was raining this heavy in Canada, I still would not have been surprised by the power outage.
The winds were so strong that, even with windows and doors closed, we still had a significant breeze inside. The air came in through the slats above the windows and doors. Even if power had been on, there would have been no point in having the fans running – the wind coming in moved air around as much as the fans do on their highest setting.
It was so dark – and it’s not even 2.30 pm – that I couldn’t see hardly anything. It was as dark as night – and that’s no exaggeration.
Did I mention that it was cool? It was so refreshing. Even with no fans running – power outage, remember – with the heavy winds, we got great ventilation. This was the coolest day I have experienced since I arrived. It was wonderful!
And it remained cool for the rest of the day, which was even better. Power came back around 4.30 pm.
And here’s my comment. If this is an example of a monsoon rain, I can understand why people make such a big deal about monsoons.
I’ve experienced rains this violent before, but never lasting more than five or ten minutes, and never in Canada – only since coming here. Even during the tornado in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in what, 1989? the rain there was nothing like here. Sure, they had hail as well, but still. Nothing anywhere near as violent as this rain. This one beat all. I can also understand – very easily – why flooding can occur so quickly and easily.
I asked Fahim later, when he got home from work, if this was how monsoons usually were, and he didn’t have a clue – he was inside during the whole thing. Thanks, honey, that was such a big help.
