6“When the river serpent rears its head, the heavens pour. This is the worst flood in memory, I can tell you,” Old Kim said, sweeping the brown water out of his coffee shop.
Fierce winds had swept across the island, felling trees. For two days and nights, the storms had raged, and floodwaters rose waist high in many parts of the city. A footbridge in Clarke Quay was wrenched away in the flood, and a man fell into the river and drowned. Business in Chinatown was at a standstill, but Old Kim kept his coffee shop open, and people came in at all hours to swap stories and complain about the worst flood since their great grandmother’s time.
“Just look at what the government is doing,” Old Kim complained. “Trees cut down, houses are torn down. Everywhere the land is bulldozed and churned up. Yo
