A Deluge Called "Ondoy" (Typhoon Ketsana)

I woke up at half past eight thirty in the morning yesterday. It was cloudy, the pavement was damp looking outside our house. It seemed it had just rained. I thought it was a good thing. We all want some cool air.

It rained hard after a while. I thought nothing about it. My husband went out and told me when he came back the street was ankle deep with flood water. Again, I thought nothing of it but was surprised our street was flooded. We have not experienced any real flood no matter how strong the rains were. There were drainage problems years ago which caused our street to have ankle deep flood water but it stopped as soon as the drainage issues were addressed.

My husband went out for the second time and came back telling me the water was higher than ankle already and the street a little farther was waist-deep. I couldn't believe it. How could it be waist deep? That area was very near ours. I went out to check myself. Oh yes, there was flood water on our street. Not really high but two or three houses' driveways were already with water.

I was praying please spare our house. I don't want to be lifting sofas and other appliances. I don't want to be removing water from the house. That's a mess. We were on guard on the rise of the water level.

It was a pretty normal Saturday morning in spite of being on guard on the water level. I talked to my sister over the phone, talked to my sister in law and my brother over YM, and watched my niece through the webcam. I heard of flood in other areas but it did not alarm me. My brother who was tuned in to ANC said "parang ilog na pala d'yan" ("seems like a river out there"). They live in the U.S. I thought nothing of it. I thought it was the usual flood that will go away in a matter of minutes, at least less than an hour.

I was logged on to Twitter and Facebook as well as Plurk and updates from friends, celebrities and news networks kept coming in. Oh no! The flood waters in Pasig, Cainta, Marikina and Fairview were rising quickly and steadily. My cousins were stuck along the road because of the grid lock and flood. My father in law's first floor was already under water. Streets in almost all areas of the metro were submerged in water. I was alarmed!

I love the rain, it always soothes me but for the first time in my life I prayed for the rain to stop. People were getting stranded everywhere. Electricity in some parts were cut off for safety reasons. We experienced two brown outs and for the first time too this did not annoy me.

My daughter said she was so bored. I just have to make her realize we should be thankful we are safe in our house. A lot of people were wet, hungry and scared on top of their roofs.

I texted and tried to call my relatives and friends to check how they were doing. I was relieved to read every reply saying they were okay. One has experienced waist-deep flood but generally fine and water subsided easily.

I mentally accounted what we should be bringing in case we needed to get out of the house. I told myself I won't be able to sleep if it will still rain during the night. I wanted to be updated what is happening outside especially the flooded areas. I was thankful the rain stopped, drizzling maybe but it was really quiet last night. No rain. I was able to go to sleep. On my mind and in our prayers was the safety of all the people still stranded outside.

I woke up dreading to watch and hear the morning after "Ondoy". Watching the news yesterday was heartbreaking. Watching and reading about the aftermath was devastating. The news, the pictures were enough to traumatize me. As of this posting, 11:16 PM, there are still people yet to be rescued in some villages. I pray for their safety.

Pangs of guilt, worry and fear are eating me up to the point of almost getting a headache with all these emotions going inside me. I have never felt this way before.

I am worried because anytime this can happen again.

I am scared because we are not prepared for any calamity. Nobody is.

I am guilty because I am sitting in front of my computer in the comforts of our house instead of out there helping in whatever way I can. I am relaying informative updates as a way of doing my part. As what has been said, if you really cannot help outside and might just add to the chaos that is going on, just stay put. Pray and stay calm.

We did contribute through our church this morning. A lot of our churchmates in Rizal were affected by the flood. It was nothing big but I hope it will help even a small number of people. We will sort out clothes tomorrow to drop off to donation centers. My husband will go to his father's place to help clean the house.

I was wrong to think that this flood only concerns my aversion to a messy house caused by muddy water. Metro Manila and nearby provinces were inundated. It was horrible. Watching the devastation was enough to traumatize me. I could only pray for strength of those directly affected by the flood.

I heard from updates that another storm is expected on Wednesday. Preparing for contingencies won't hurt. It's necessary coming from what just happened, massive flash flood surprised us all. I hate to say this but a tragedy like "Ondoy" need to happen as a wake up call for all of us. Noah built the arc when it was not raining. Let us bear that in mind.

In all these I thank God for taking care of us as well as my relatives and friends. I pray to God to ease the pain and fear of all the people affected by the storm and the flood. I pray for a quick recovery for the people, for the country. I pray for better crisis management by the government and by the people.

Prayers work wonders. I am a believer. That eased my troubled mind. Now we work hard as one to prevent another crisis. Let there be light.

*****
I'm glad Julie was fine after the night their house was surrounded by flood water. I pray Feng is doing okay. The first floor of their house in Pasig was submerged in water when Chats forwarded her text on Saturday night. We have not contacted her since then.