It's January, 2015, and it is wet out there. Really, really wet. Cats and dogs don't do it justice, throw in the goldfish, too. It's been raining non-stop for more than 24 hours, and on and off for several days before that.
Still, the flooding and misery is nothing like on the scale that our Peninsular compatriots have had to endure in recent weeks.
The river levels are rising, there is standing water on roads everywhere, and many areas have reported flooding.
The local 4X4 community have been on alert for a while in case our services are needed, and the call went out today.
Kampung Simpok, a predominantly Bidayuh village in the Padawan area, between the Kuching-Serian Road and the road to Borneo Heights, was being inundated and some residents needed help with evacuation.
Three cars from Sakta (the Sarawak Travel and Adventure Association) answered the call. Cikgu Bhil, Meek Mapes and myself did what we could to ferry residents from low-lying areas to the evacuation centre at Kg Simpok's community hall.
There were several other vehicles and volunteers from the Sarawak Amateyr Radio Emergency Service (SARES) and Civil Defence (Jabatan Pertahanan Awam, JPAM) on hand to assist the villagers.
In places, the water was too deep even for 4X4s so the two boats JPAM brought along had to be pressed into service.
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