I woke up on Thursday and there was no running water out of the pipe. One section of a huge pipe burst and it was early Wednesday morning. So in the morning on Thursday, suddenly, there was an announcement that the water was cut off to the city. There were some parts of the city that had water but 80% of the water was cut off. Finally, as of yesterday, Sunday, those huge pipes have been repaired and by afternoon water restored. So how did it go about for those couple of days?

A water truck

The local government has tried their best to make sure that the local population has enough water to get by. They have allocated water collection points throughout the city and the water is free. Many locals who have water have also tried to help others who need water. A local hotel even offered showers for free for those who are desperate for a shower.

This is the section of the pipe that broke.

The pipe being repaired. This was on Saturday afternoon. It was due to complete on Friday after it burst on Thursday but due to heavy rains, it was delayed till Sunday for the repair to be fully completed. I have not experienced in my life a couple of days without water. The last time Miri had no water was only for a day at max a decade ago.

Saturday, these hard working men worked around the clock to ensure that the pipe was repaired and water could be restored to the general public.

Even when it rained, they were working. At around 3am Sunday morning, the pipe was fully repaired but the water company needed to make sure that it did not leak or else, it might have burst again sometime in the future.

A drone shot of the site

This was a huge project and lots of heavy equipment had to be used to remove lots of earth just to get to those pipe and only then repairs could be done.

Status on Sunday with reinforced beams.

Finally, the pipes have been repaired. Later, I'll write about how my life was without water for a couple of days. This is going to be one long post. Everyone on my Facebook post rejoiced when they saw the completion of the pipe. Water. Some of the locals had to get their water from the huge drains. I know a couple of places that had water.

Collected rain water

There is a 500ml water tank at home but it ran out of water in just one and the half days for a family of five.

Another bucket to collect water.

King Kong saved the day

On Thursday, water got cut and then the water in King Kong lasted till only Friday afternoon. Luckily, there was some rain that refilled some of the water lost. King Kong is connected directly to the rain gutter above. Instead of letting the rain go directly into the drain, we had to divert it to King Kong.

The huge bucket in the shower

As long as it rained, It quickly refilled this huge bucket. Some of the water, I got from the toilet of shopping malls.

The water supply truck

The local council allocated lots of collection point around the city for everyone to get their water for free. The only thing was to bring your buckets. So at this point of time, everyone had brought their buckets.

These are some screenshots I've taken from some of the Facebook post.

Mothers and their kids bringing their buckets to fill up water from these trucks.

A helpful little one

This boy was quite helpful. I guess, he'll remember this forever.

Firefighters helping out as they drained out the water due to heavy rains.

I guess, those who have worked hard can sleep well tonight. There were updates all along the way for the progress of this particular site. ahahaha ..

Finally, I could wash my clothes. The last time I washed clothes was on Wednesday. The smell of fresh clothes. Happiness in seeing clean water again. Never have I known that water is that important. It has been a tough couple of days. Had to ration water when I bathe.

When my washing machine completed the first batch of washing, I was so happy to take them out to hang.

Never felt so happy seeing my washing machine.

happy clothes that smell superb.

A clothes boutique?

If the sun is bright, it will all dry up by the afternoon. These is a saying that when we hang out clothes at night, some spirits would wear them. What if those clothes are not washed and become smelly?

Hope that you enjoyed reading this post. Finally, water....