The Typhoon Story

Obando, the small town where I live is no stranger to flood. We (unvoluntarily) help our neighbor towns and cities by serving as their drainage-catch basin. Every time it would be raining for two-three days, knee-deep flood is an expected thing - in the yard and on the road. It takes weeks before it subsides therefore, the flood from last week’s rain would still be meeting the new breed of flood next week.

We thought we knew it all about flooding until typhoon Ondoy came.

The rains are crazy. Not so much winds though, thank goodness. The pouring was non-stop. For days.

Power went out around five o’clock on Saturday afternoon. I was in a birthday party then, just across my house. When I got home, all still dark and flood-y, the family and I noticed that the water is rising abruptly, and it doesn’t stop. We’ve decided to elevate the furnitures but we ran out of time. The water in the living room has been chest high in minutes and in the kitchen – neck-high. Take that living room!

The water was dark green. Leaves and other “things” were floating on it. And oh! There was a snake too! It’s not a baby snake but more of a teenager snake, I think. My uncle killed it with a knife.

All the plates, stove and other kitchen and living room stuff were either submerged into the water, or floating. It was like a scene from the movie Titanic but without the background music.

Good thing we have a second floor. We stayed there for four days. I thank whoever invented the candles during those pitch-black nights. A relative lent us kitchen and dining utensils. A neighbor family stayed with us during the typhoon, because their house is extremely flooded – and extreme in this case meant 10-12 feet high.

Power’s still out on day two. Bored and disconnected from the internet, I’ve spent my time reading books and grooming my dog. Looking outside the window is just sad, seeing the neighbors living on their houses, on the roof. They cook, eat, and sleep there.

Boats roam around the town selling fish, meat, and veggies. If in any consolation, fish, shrimp, and other seafood are almost for free when there is flood in our town. These are the “escape artists” from nearby fisheries.

Seeing the news when the power came back on Monday was shocking. I thought we have seen the worst but, no. There were houses that were swept away, cars and even buses were underwater, passengers were stranded for days, and hundreds of missing people. And deaths.

Since I wasn’t able to go to work for two days, I thought I should do something productive. I’ve helped out (I think) by Tweeting updates on where and how to help and send donations for those who were greatly affected by the typhoon.

So there. That’s my typhoon story. It was scary and traumatic but, it doesn’t mean a good thing can’t come out of it. Looking at how people help other people during and after the typhoon somehow brings out hope, at least for me.