Meire Marion's Corner...: 2020 Started with a Bang!

Coming back home after a week’s vacation in this awesome hotel did not bring a smile to my face; however, having stayed longer would have been a bad choice.

I got home created my pets, unpack my bag, got in the shower and then it started to pour. Not only did it pour outside, but also inside my apartment. I had heard a big explosion while I had seen lighting come straight at my building. Suddenly there was water coming down from the ceiling in both bathrooms and the laundry area. I started to panic. I ran and shut of all the water registers.

Good thing the nowadays we have some technological apps to help us and in the WhatsApp group for the building I noticed that people were freaking out; posting pictures and videos and calling for help. Apparently, a pipe had burst on the 16th floor, mind you I live on the 8th floor, therefore, there was a lot of water coming down.

No one really knows (unit now) why, but the 10th floor apartment was the one that was mostly damaged. There was water coming out of the sockets, out of the pipes and out of the drains. Many people went there to help the family control the water with buckets, towels and squeegees. It was sad but heartwarming at the same time to see that some of the neighbors were willing to help the others.

This went on for at least 2 days. The Superintendent and a plumber couldn't figure out which pipe had burst. Two sleepless nights. We had to call the insurance of the building to take pictures so that we could get money, and have it fixed. There is so much bureaucracy when it comes to insurance companies paying you for something that you have been paying for for such a long time. It really is stressful.

Nonetheless the Superintendent in my building is a wise man who knows how to deal with people and he's pretty much on the Zen side so he can calm you down if you are a bit nervous. He and another neighbor came over around midnight to check and see if I had closed all the water registers, which I had. Nonetheless the water kept pouring down.

Apparently, the leak was from the 16th floor until the ballroom which is on the ground floor so you can imagine how much damage there was to the building. In fact, two pipes had burst and one of them was the one that had to do with the water from rainstorms, and unfortunately it was raining cats and dogs.

Lucky for us that the pipe was fixed on the 3rd day and now we're just waiting for the insurance to release the money so we can get the damage fixed.

That's what I call starting the year with a Big Bang!