You wouldn’t know what matters most to you until you are faced with a great turmoil…
It was September 26, 2009, Saturday, just a day after my birthday, I woke up around 6:30 AM to watch an old Tagalog flick “Sana Maulit Muli”, starring Aga Muhlach and Lea Salonga. It was pouring hard but I wasn’t even bothered, knowing that “-ber” months would be part of rainy season. As I heard from the news, a new storm, Ondoy, would hit Metro Manila that day. We were really not alarmed since we have already experienced countless typhoons in the Metro.
At 10:00 AM, we received a call from our landlord to prepare for the possible flood. We were advised to start moving some of our important items to the second floor. We responded immediately to his warning. We started moving our books, magazines, shoes, photo albums, DVDs and CDs, and some throw pillows to our 2nd floor.
At 11:00 AM, flood water finally touched our house. It was my first time to experience flood inside our house in my 29 years of existence. I must admit, I actually didn’t know what to do. I was too worried on what other stuff I should save first. I got worried with our wood furnitures that it might be damaged. My husband remained calm and focused and reassured me that we could beat this test. He packed all our stocked food and water supply while I searched out the other needed items – Candles, Matches, Flashlights, Batteries, and phone chargers
At 12:00 Noon, flood water reached to calf-level. It was just an hour that passed and the level of flood water was rising terribly fast. We immediately moved all our electric appliances to our 2nd floor – DVD/Karaoke players, Radio, Audio Speakers, Playstation III, and TV. We also transferred our kitchen appliances – Microwave Oven, Toaster, Electric pot, and Rice Cooker. We picked the spices from our kitchen cabinet and all our remaining veggies. We secured some plates and utensils that we could use upstairs. We decided to leave our refrigerator and my 1 year old gas range in our kitchen since these appliances are just too heavy to handle.
We were frantic in transferring all valuable items that we could rescue. Every minute was highly imperative. No time to waste for resting or for some drama. We were absolutely busy… but I was becoming horrified of the possible outcome.
Jonel switched off our circuit breaker to avoid us from being electrocuted. He also took the Gasul tank and gas hose so we could cook upstairs using our old two-burner stove. Sheila was preoccupied in packing all of my essential beauty products, bathroom items, and perfumes while I was busy finding my parents’ important documents and items from their room. I left some of their clothes but placed it on top of their airbed. I know that it would just float and wouldn’t be soaked with flood water.
I expected flood water to touch our house. I expected our plants and washing machine to float outside. I expected a knee-deep flood water. But I was wrong… dead wrong for expecting TOO LESS!
At 1:30 PM, flood water level elevated to waist deep. I was really shocked with what I saw right in front of my very own eyes. And then I stopped from doing anything. I just stood there, watching my husband and Sheila from taking some of the remaining books and magazines in our bookshelves. They continued to rearrange some of our glass furnitures to keep away from falling items. I was trying to get ready to see the worst. I saw our refrigerator, sofa sala set, and some empty cabinets floating.
As I was trying to understand my emotions and reactions to such dreadful flood, I felt that I was ready to give up all of my other treasured kitchen items. I didn’t care anymore. I sent few text messages to my family and some friends. And then I just stayed in our room. I used my laptop battery and my phone mobile network to get connected online.
That made me relax, indeed.
At 3:30 PM, flood water reached 6 feet deep. Our ground floor was almost half submerged… and it was raining, still! This time, I couldn’t help from crying. I was terrified of the possibility that the flood water might reach our 2nd floor. I was scared of the fact that no one in sight was actually trying to rescue us and other residents here in our area. Jon gave me a comforting hug while he tried to pacify me from crying. He remained calm but as he confessed, he was screaming inside too! But he needed to remain focused for our safety. He asked me to stuff some essentials in our bags so we would be ready for the rescue. Out of extreme fear, I ended up with 5 luggages of items. 
I organized our things according to priority. Of course, my husband segregated the bags and left the ones with less important items. Laptops and computer peripherals were placed at the topmost part of our built-in cabinets, in case flood water would reach our room.
It was around 4:30 PM when the rain stopped pouring. I was a bit relieved and finally went out to our terrace to check our surroundings. This made me think again — we were very busy securing and saving our personal belongings inside our house and that we failed to notice the people around us. We failed to care to our neighbours who don’t even have 2nd floor in their homes. Nevertheless, they seemed relax still, regardless of the fact that their houses were almost entirely submerged! Some of them attempted to make all our moods lighter by making jokes out of such depressing condition.
It was nightfall when we finally had the chance to rest. The sky gradually turned gentle on us by pouring lesser rain. It was midnight when it stopped completely.
September 27, 2009, Sunday, we learned that Typhoon Ondoy, at last, left the Philippine territory. We were all praying that the water would go down progressively. While we waited for the flood water to drain, I began cooking some of our frozen food. I made Pork Adobo and Beef Steak. I simply marinated the meat a night before to preserve them.
September 28, 2009, Monday – Our ground floor was finally passable. Flood water on our street was just at the ankle-level. At once, we began cleaning our living room. We took out all the damaged cabinets to obtain space for our clean up. It was really time to de-clutter and throw away those insignificant items. The house was slightly damaged especially the walls, cabinet drawers, doors, and some steps of our stairs.
It basically took us 3 days to finish cleaning the whole house. Then another 3 days to complete our piles of laundry. Electricity was restored Tuesday night at around 7:00 PM. We were told not to fully switched on the circuit breaker to avoid electric damage of outlets that were soaked from flood.
Despite of everything, it gave us many lessons to keep in mind. I must say, no matter how much we prepare ourselves of something, be ready to witness the worst. Many prominent government officials are now trying to investigate the cause. It was certainly a wake up call — not only to the influential people but also down to the most common citizen. Let’s put our best efforts in keeping our area clean and organize our waste disposals. Clogged drainages absolutely trigger deep flood anywhere!
It gave me a different perspective as well in acquiring things. Another lesson, DON’T be too materialistic! We have to train ourselves to minimize from buying unnecessary items. Invest more on something else… perhaps, Stocks!
Today, October 8, 2009, Thursday, it’s been almost 2 weeks since Typhoon Ondoy wrought havoc to major cities of Manila and Rizal. People are still engaged in cleaning their own surroundings. The typhoon resulted to so much damage, not only to the personal belongings and properties of the residents, but also to the lives of other people. There were more than 200 people died in that dreadful flood. Lives were taken in just a matter of hours of rain. It was really sad and terrifying.
It was an incident, I’m sure, many people would never forget.
Love and Care,
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Hi! My name is Mikee, 28. Happily married.. I'm a coffee addict. Enjoys watching movies, even when I'm alone :). Loves blogging and web designing. Hopes to learn more on CCS and layout. Dreams to be a Business Analyst. Collects favorite TV series.
