Following the heavy EL-nino rains in the late nineties, many
roads in Nairobi were badly damaged. There was almost no drainage on many of
the roads. This resulted in anything from mighty puddles to outright flooding
anytime there was some rain. This still happens and pedestrians get splashed by
passing cars. As a driver however, the most problematic outcome of any downpour
was the flooding which came with it the risk of the engine stalling midway in
the water. Woe to you if you drove a car with a low mounted carburetor and an
old model distributor with contact points. You would be wet to your skin by the
time you managed to get out of your predicament.
One bright and sunny day suddenly decided to become rainy and gloomy as evening approached. As it usually used to happen on rainy days, it got very busy as everybody was frantic to get home. Traffic was so heavy that most roads resembled parking lots. At around 7 in the evening, I was sent to pick a client in the city center and drop him in an area known as Huruma. Although the traffic was relatively heavy, dropping him was uneventful. Coming back was a different story altogether.
There were two available routes back to town. One would be through Pangani which is now part of the new super highway. That way I knew I could get hopelessly stuck for the better part of the night. I opted for the second route which would take me through the Eastleigh estate, on the famous first avenue where you can buy anything, and on which several terrorist explosions have taken place recently. This route was a short cut in terms of distance but on that night, it turned out to be a very long cut.
When joining 1st Avenue from Juja road, I realized there was heavier traffic than usual but it was too late to turn back. I decided to brave it and inch forward with the rest of the traffic. A couple of a hundred meters on, I found out why the road was so congested. The drains were blocked and the whole road was flooded. We had to inch our way forward at a painstakingly slow pace since some people had started to overlap the almost stationery queue.
The water was not stagnant, it was flowing like one large river and this created an interesting illusion. At one point, I though the car in front was rolling backwards towards me. I hooted in earnest to make it stop only to realize that it was the water that was moving. That was really embarrassing. Many cars sucked up water with their exhaust pipes and conked out. I had to keep the engine revved to avoid a dead engine in the middle of a flood.
After being in the water for about an hour, during which time it was still raining, the level started rising. In the end, I could open my window and easily touch the water whose surface was just below the window. That was an awful lot of water especially for older cars which were not completely water proof. I was not worried because my car was in good condition and the seals were working perfectly. I should have been very worried if I knew what was happening.
Unbeknownst to me, the door seals had started to give way. Apparently they had been designed to withstand only a little water for a limited duration I had been literally immersed in a river and stayed there for too long. It started as slight moisture on the carpet. The next thing I knew, the whole floor pan was squishy with water. That was not even the worst, the rain water drain system appeared to have come into contact with raw sewage and you can imagine how it smelled. I was completely miserable but the level in the car kept on rising until my legs were in water up to my ankles. By the time the traffic let up and I was able to drive off, I was quite worried. One can get a myriad of infections in that kind of concoction. I managed to reach base with my sloshing load and removed the floor plugs to drain the car. It was obvious the car could not be used for any useful work until it got a thorough valet cleaning. That got me two days unpaid leave. ( and I didn't fall sick either).
One bright and sunny day suddenly decided to become rainy and gloomy as evening approached. As it usually used to happen on rainy days, it got very busy as everybody was frantic to get home. Traffic was so heavy that most roads resembled parking lots. At around 7 in the evening, I was sent to pick a client in the city center and drop him in an area known as Huruma. Although the traffic was relatively heavy, dropping him was uneventful. Coming back was a different story altogether.
There were two available routes back to town. One would be through Pangani which is now part of the new super highway. That way I knew I could get hopelessly stuck for the better part of the night. I opted for the second route which would take me through the Eastleigh estate, on the famous first avenue where you can buy anything, and on which several terrorist explosions have taken place recently. This route was a short cut in terms of distance but on that night, it turned out to be a very long cut.
When joining 1st Avenue from Juja road, I realized there was heavier traffic than usual but it was too late to turn back. I decided to brave it and inch forward with the rest of the traffic. A couple of a hundred meters on, I found out why the road was so congested. The drains were blocked and the whole road was flooded. We had to inch our way forward at a painstakingly slow pace since some people had started to overlap the almost stationery queue.
The water was not stagnant, it was flowing like one large river and this created an interesting illusion. At one point, I though the car in front was rolling backwards towards me. I hooted in earnest to make it stop only to realize that it was the water that was moving. That was really embarrassing. Many cars sucked up water with their exhaust pipes and conked out. I had to keep the engine revved to avoid a dead engine in the middle of a flood.
After being in the water for about an hour, during which time it was still raining, the level started rising. In the end, I could open my window and easily touch the water whose surface was just below the window. That was an awful lot of water especially for older cars which were not completely water proof. I was not worried because my car was in good condition and the seals were working perfectly. I should have been very worried if I knew what was happening.
Unbeknownst to me, the door seals had started to give way. Apparently they had been designed to withstand only a little water for a limited duration I had been literally immersed in a river and stayed there for too long. It started as slight moisture on the carpet. The next thing I knew, the whole floor pan was squishy with water. That was not even the worst, the rain water drain system appeared to have come into contact with raw sewage and you can imagine how it smelled. I was completely miserable but the level in the car kept on rising until my legs were in water up to my ankles. By the time the traffic let up and I was able to drive off, I was quite worried. One can get a myriad of infections in that kind of concoction. I managed to reach base with my sloshing load and removed the floor plugs to drain the car. It was obvious the car could not be used for any useful work until it got a thorough valet cleaning. That got me two days unpaid leave. ( and I didn't fall sick either).
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