We hotel guests were luckier, forced only to navigate the paneled hallway and, with the rushing sounds of the river as background, head to a snug lair at the top of the stairs.
When rain lands on concrete or asphalt, it runs downgrade into a stormdrain, disappears underground, channelling through systems of pipes as it combines with rain from thousands of other stormdrains into an underfoot river, ever rushing toward lower ground.