September 26 was hell...

I'd say it'll only take two emoticons to summarize this journal entry:

This one: --->

and this: --->

It started as a normal rainy day, but around 1pm, my uncle was calling me outside. When I went to check what was going on, I almost went "WHAT THE FUCK?!" and with good reason...

THERE WAS MURKY WATER FLOODING INTO THE GARAGE!

Aside from that blasted leaky roof I had to deal with, this certainly was the worst. It turns out that Typhoon Ondoy paid a little "visit" to Metro Manila, and boy was it hell...

A few minutes later, uncle and I were scrambling like crazy trying to bring in the laundry into the house, but the floods didn't stop there. Several minutes later, the waters rose and started to flood even the first floor of our house! Aside from my usual facepalm, I thought to myself Goddamnit... Could this day get any worse...?!

Apparently it did:

As I looked out to the streets from our balcony window (around 2:30pm), the flood waters were nearing neck-deep level and continuing to rise. People whose homes were flooded were wading through the water, apparently making their way to evac centers. From the lower parts of town, people were using makeshift rafts to make their way up.

I managed to save as much of the food, clothes and appliances as I could and used my room as a temporary storage area. As for my parents? They left the house earlier this morning with my brother to file his college application form. Lucky though, my dad and mom called up and reminded me of the other stuff I had to bring up. For a moment, I found myself thinking worst-case scenario. If the water continued to rise, I'd have to find a way to get me and my uncle out of the house. I considered ripping off a couple of cabinet doors to use as makeshift rafts/surfboards (Got the idea from the guys outside).

Thankfully, the water level seemed to stop rising at around 4pm. The only thing was that the entire first floor of my house was flooded (about 6.5 feet I'd estimate). Which meant that I was stuck on the second floor. The only thing I could do was wait - which was difficult considering that the power and phonelines were out. To make things worse, cellphone signals were becoming unstable, maybe because of all the people trying to call one another in the light of the typhoon. Luckily, our next door neighbors (our longtime family friends) that we took in brought a wireless landline with them. Thanks to that, I was able to talk to my parents and my aunt. At least they were doing ok. The only thing left to do was to take care of things from my end. At least it stopped raining around 10pm.

Finally, at around midnight, the waters started to recede. About time to. Me and everyone else was up all night keeping watch. The next day was a total mess as expected: With the floodwaters receded, there was a lot of mud on the streets. The interior of the house was completely flooded and in disarray. Strangely enough, the vases ere intact.

Around 2pm yesterday, my parents came to pick me up. Apparently, we were going to stay at my aunt's place for a few days... So here I am, writing this entry from my cousin's computer while I watch him go against my brother in a Dissidia battle.

The thing that got me thinking was that something like this never happened before. Whenever a freak typhoon like this hit, my part of town never got flooded THIS deep. I got the answer when I got to my aunt's place: Apparently, three nearby dams - the La mesa, Ipo and Angat, all released water since thier reservoirs were exceeding max capacity. Coupled with the overflowing of the Marikina river.. wel, you can guess what happened.

Problem is, why was there no warning?

Well, I don't think matters now. What needs to be given priority are the people still stuck in the flood... Let's pray to God everyone pulls through.

I managed to get some photos during and after the storm. I'll be posting them once I get the ones my mom took as well. Of course, I'll be asking her permission.

For now, I'm just glad my family's safe. My friends seem to be doing all right as well.

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