*Flood from a few streets away from us, taken by a friend*

We all felt robbed by Onyong.

I’ve been living in our house in Quezon City since birth, and I have never experienced a flood like this before. Though we are nearby a flood-prone area, we were never affected ‘coz we’re located in a much higher ground—or that’s what we know, at least to say.

Yesterday, September 26, was the day feared by all of us residing in Metro Manila. Rain started pouring in around 7am. I left work at 6ish and arrived almost 7 because there were so many people queued into the cab lane. In hindsight, it had been raining intermittently all night along before the catastrophe happened. But, the rain wasn’t so bad then.

Come 11am at the middle of my first few hours of sleep, my mother woke me up telling me that the flood was starting to reach us. In much disbelief, I reluctantly got out of my bed, until everyone in the compound (where I live in) was in a panicky. The water quickly started rushing into the garage, then inside my uncle’s house, and finally into ours and a close neighbor’s. It happened so fast that every second was deemed critical. We opted to salvage fragile stuff first like the TV and the microwave, both of which were prone from being inundated. Mom carried them one by one as if she’s been a weightlifter all her life. We didn’t have enough time and strength to save the fridge and the gas range, so we just left them there hoping they’d stand still amidst the gush of filthy water. We hurriedly put all low-leveled drawers and other stuff on the upper deck of the bed, and placed plastic containers one by one on a mini working desk like building baby blocks.

We relocated into another relative’s place which was beside ours. It’s a two-storey house with higher flooring; so the water, fortunately, didn’t get in. I was able to save pertinent stuff like gadgets, important documents and money, and weren’t drowned to waste. We also got ourselves some clothing, toiletries and a mattress bed. All things that were salvaged were then brought to our “relocation site”.

The flood inside our house rose up to the leg, and so the fridge and the table began to topple down. With the help of my male relatives, we put the fridge back in place. On the other hand, I held the table from toppling down and floating, keeping all things atop of it from falling off the dingy water. My mom suspected it was the plastic containers that made the table float, so we got them all out under the table, carried these large, painfully heavy boxes, and put them altogether with the rest of the stuff atop. After making sure that all things were in order (as we ought to be), we finally evacuated the place and waited til the rain stopped and the flood ebbed.

In spite of what happened, I still feel blessed. I know for a fact that we weren’t the ones who were hit the most. It was this nearby street situated at the lower ground that took its entire wrath, as they’re deeply submerged for more than 2 meters of muddy water. On the other hand, I felt so proud and thankful on the rescuers, which was composed of my neighbors in our street, who had a rubber boat and started saving people who got stranded or stuck as the flood quickly rose. Others helped my neighbors who were also affected by carrying loads of stuff to safety. There’s no denying that the bayanihan spirit is always within us, breaking free without reluctance in times of need.

I failed to hear the news that day. I even missed taking pictures ‘coz my concern all went to saving everything that needs to be saved. It was only today that I knew how grim and gruesome this catastrophe is. Marikina was almost erased from the map, as the city turned into one gigantic lake. The same situation was not far on the cities of Rizal, Pasig, Paranaque, Makati, Malabon, Quezon City and most parts of Manila. Neighboring provinces like Bulacan wasn’t out of harm’s way either. Houses were deeply submerged in water, leaving only roofs visible to the naked eye. People were helplessly stuck for hours without food or drinking water. It’s like they were shut down from the outside world, and had no choice but to wait for rescue. The saddest part is: several drowned in the process of saving their own lives. Typhoon Onyong truly made history more than just having the heaviest rainfall, as it left a huge, deep gash into our hearts especially to those who were bereaved.

Ondoy & the Upside of Technology

One thing we need to thank technology for is its ability to transmit messages in a snap of a finger—or perhaps faster. Information sprouted like mushrooms from one website to another in real-time. Social media sites were filled with deep concerns and pledges. It’s been a trending topic in Twitter, and was all over the news—online and on TV. You can see actual footages via Youtube and Facebook. Even those abroad weren’t missing anything at all, since they were able to reach out through the internet.
If you’re reading this right now and wanting to help, doing so is just a click of a mouse button. You can donate to TXTPower.Org via Paypal and learn how to donate in various ways to Philippine National Red Cross.