So when it happens. It's a big deal.
For many Singaporeans, we think floods are a bad thing.
Most of us haven't experienced floods before or the older generation may have fond memories of playing in the flood waters.
However, when we see pictures like this...
Image taken from
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42347510
When Singaporeans see floods like this, most of us think...
"Woah damn jialat"
So terrible...
After I went on recce trip, my impression of floods like these changed...
You see... the thing is... Houston was built TO flood. That's the plan. It's intended to flood. It's controlled flooding.
The natural system is very good at accepting rainfall. But when water hits pavement, it creates runoff immediately. That water has to go somewhere. So it flows wherever the grade takes it. To account for that runoff, people engineer systems to move the water away from where it is originally deposited, or to house it in situ, or even to reuse it. This process—the policy, planning, engineering, implementation, and maintenance of urban water systems—is called stormwater management.
To account for the certainty of flooding, Houston has built drainage channels, sewers, outfalls, on- and off-road ditches, and detention ponds to hold or move water away from local areas. When they fill, the roadways provide overrun. The dramatic images from Houston that show wide, interstate freeways transformed into rivers look like the cause of the disaster, but they are also its solution, if not an ideal one.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/08/why-cities-flood/538251/
Houston was built with the intention to redirect the excess rainwater from hurricanes to other areas away from homes and local businesses as best as possible, and collect the water there until the land is able to absorb all the excess precipitation.
Since we live in Singapore, and we don't see floods often, most of us think it's just bad planning, or that there's so much rain that the place floods.
However, after getting more info, my impression of this has changed.
Cos now, after finding out more, it seems that flooding is not the problem.
It's the SOLUTION!!!
So now, I wonder... what other things did I think wrongly of?
What other things did I think is one thing but it's actually the opposite?
Cos from our little island Singapore, we don't experience many things. And as I learn more, my impression changes.
People from different countries are different. They handle things differently.
Sometimes based on culture, sometimes based on circumstances.
Like maybe Singaporeans see strikes and protests to be damn jialat... but in France that's a solution to something else, and they may feel that the trouble is worth it.
Same as the floods in Houston... that's their solution to another problem.
How about your views on the situation in Hong Kong? How much do we really know about it? How much do we know about HK culture and lifestyle and the troubles that they face? It's easy to just say something is good or not good by sitting at home and just viewing it through our own mental maps.
But maybe if we were living in another country, we would look at issues and solutions differently.
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