Write a story beginning with: "It had been raining all day..."

- by lioncity, Singapore

It had been raining all day. The rain continued to pour down. I was reading a newspaper in the living room. My two brothers were playing in the parking space in front of our house. The rain became heavier and heavier.

Just when I had finished my reading and wanted to go for a rest, my brothers ran to the living room and told me that the water level in the drain had risen. Thus, I went outside to have a look. I noticed that the drain had overflowed! The water flowed into the parking space. I quickly called my parents. Within ten minutes, the living room was flooded and the water was knee-deep. When my parents returned home, they took with them the important documents and some valuables. The water level rose swiftly. Soon, we could no longer stay in our house and had to move to the rooftop.

Some of my neighbours were already on the roof with their belongings. Most of them were using umbrellas as it was still raining cats and dogs. Soon, night came and it was pitch-dark all over. We shivered with cold. There was nothing much we could do except to pray and hope for the best. We were optimistic that the authorities were aware of our plight and their assistance was on the way.

A few hours later, we saw flashes of light in the distance. To our delight, we discovered that it was the rescue squads as the lights approached us. We were overjoyed to see them coming to our rescue in boats.

Our family and all the other victims were brought to a relief centre which was located in a school. It was unaffected by the flood because of its high location. At the relief centre, we were given towels and clothes as we were as wet as a fish. After that, we were served with hot food and drinks. Accommodation was also provoded. Doctors and nurses were also present to attend to the sick and the injured.

The next day, the rain continued. It was not as heavy as it was the day before. The flood water had not subsided therefore we could not return home yet. That morning, I learnt that more than a thousand citizens were affected by the flood and brought to the relief centre. That morning, the centre received donations from all over the country. Among the donations were food and drinks, clothings, cash, school textbooks, stationery, crockery and cutlery, and so on. We come to know that an 11-year-old child donated his personal savings of RM 600 to the flood victims. We were extremely touched by the generosity of the child and our fellow citizens who were so willing to help us.

It was only on the fourth day that the flood water subsided completely and we were able to go home. We were glad to go home. However, upon reaching home, we were quite astonished to find our home in an unliveable condition. Everything in the house was covered in mud. As a consequence of the flood, some of the victims' houses were partly destroyed. We were thankful that our house remained intact, though many of our belongings such as the electrical appliances were broken. It took us a full week to clean up the mess that the flood had created.

We were thankful to the government for giving all the victims financial aids to rebuild our houses. The government also promised to look into the cause of the flood and go everything it could to reduce the occurrence of floods to a minimum in future.