Monday, September 28, 2009

Ondoy's Attack

On Friday night J and I were still planning to party on Saturday night somewhere in Ortigas. I picked J up from the office and went home as it started raining. No biggie. It always rains. When we got home (at the condo in Taguig) the winds started blowing really hard. Whenever it does, it made a howling sound as it passed through metals of the balconies. Pepper, on the other hand, looked so wary. Even when it's time to sleep, he wouldn't, and would just be close by. I fell asleep with my arm dangling from the bed just so he'd feel like he's beside somebody.

Saturday morning. Still raining. The balcony's so wet now, I got the feeling it must be flooding already. I tiptoed on the balcony to check if my car is still parked outside our building--or if it was already submerged somehow. Elmo (my car) is still okay. No signs of flood. But a lot of cars had already illegally parked. I knew something was wrong. We switch on the tube and tuned in to the news... Horrible.

We start calling people from Navotas. As I expected the phoneline was dead. I called up my mom and got a hold of her. They sounded so calm. They have electricity. Almost all of them are home, and the flood--like most high tide days--were just knee deep and didn't even reach our backyard. Hmm. Tolerable. Thankful.

Seaoil Merville calls up to stop operations. It was waist-deep already.

SMS started pouring in. I knew people must be worried about the flood capital Malabon-Navotas, seeing the one-storey flood in Pasig, Marikina and Rizal. I assure people we're okay. Then I started wondering, and worrying, about people I know who live/have their families in the said areas. Some of my friends are not in the Philippines and I'm sure they're worried sick about their family.

This post goes out to MM, who was in Manila but their home was flooded in QC. I'm glad you're okay now. And to Lyka and Precious, who are both away from home while in Japan and Korea, respectively, and whose family are still in danger. I am texting every hotline I see on the news to report your area. I know how it must feel being so helpless so far away.

And to everybody whose houses, cars and businesses (like in our case) was damaged by the floods, let us be thankful we are still alive. And let us pray for those who weren't able to make it, or are still waiting for help to arrive.

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