Living with the thought of Ondoy
It's been almost 4 months. Ondoy damaged almost all of Metro Manila. Pepeng deluded most of Central and Northern Luzon. Why do I have to go back to these sad memories? I think I need to; if only to document in a glimpse our one of a kind experience.
I wish it didn't happen. But wishes rarely come true. Marikina, the city where my family lives suffered one of, if not the worst nightmare's a city could ever endure. Why it had to happen, I am definitely sure, was not an act of God. Looking back and bringing myself to that fateful day, I distinctly remember hearing from my transistor radio that Ipo, Angat and Magat, three dams in Central Luzon was about to release or had just released water. I was listening to DZBB. And when I saw from our bedroom window that water was on our street, I kind of grew apprehensive. Is this connected to the water release from the three dams?
This has never happened before. It was our 8th year in this subdivision and I have not seen anything like it. The water was unlike water from the rain, but, instead looked like murky and muddy water. I told my two sons, one who just arrived from work and the other on his way out, that it was useless to try make it to the office. I said, "you'll get yourself dirty, because the water looks like it was 4 inches high." I told them that it looks like water will rise to a certain level but not like what happened... it was a deluged...
Unknown to us, water at the subdivision gate was also starting to rise. Outside that gate, A. Bonifacio Street where our business office was located had it coming as well.
After all was said and done, what was left with us are bad memories of hearing the sound of our things (breakables) crashing and breaking like nothing was saved; watching our furniture rise with the water as it climbed to our house's second floor; fear for our lives that if water continued to rise, we; my two sons and I will drown. From the tiny window of our attic where we were hauled up, we began seeing the Marikina River banks water, raging like hell, in its belly were a couple of cars, jeeps and uprooted trees. Luckily, the water's natural direction was not towards us. The water that came by the subdivision were spilled water from the banks.
My youngest son was planning on how to get out of the house. He said, "we can swim! We have styrofoam, enough for the three of us. "He said that we can use this to paddle our way out through the flooded streets until we reached the subdivision gate which was like a kilometer away from our place. Good Lord,I thought silently. What bravado!
In the end, we ended up praying and praying and praying and promising to each other that if we get trough this safe we will change our individual obstinate ways!
These pictures were taken by my partner. As the waters were rising, he was there at the subdivision gates, wondering what will happen to us...
I wish it didn't happen. But wishes rarely come true. Marikina, the city where my family lives suffered one of, if not the worst nightmare's a city could ever endure. Why it had to happen, I am definitely sure, was not an act of God. Looking back and bringing myself to that fateful day, I distinctly remember hearing from my transistor radio that Ipo, Angat and Magat, three dams in Central Luzon was about to release or had just released water. I was listening to DZBB. And when I saw from our bedroom window that water was on our street, I kind of grew apprehensive. Is this connected to the water release from the three dams?
This has never happened before. It was our 8th year in this subdivision and I have not seen anything like it. The water was unlike water from the rain, but, instead looked like murky and muddy water. I told my two sons, one who just arrived from work and the other on his way out, that it was useless to try make it to the office. I said, "you'll get yourself dirty, because the water looks like it was 4 inches high." I told them that it looks like water will rise to a certain level but not like what happened... it was a deluged...
Unknown to us, water at the subdivision gate was also starting to rise. Outside that gate, A. Bonifacio Street where our business office was located had it coming as well.
After all was said and done, what was left with us are bad memories of hearing the sound of our things (breakables) crashing and breaking like nothing was saved; watching our furniture rise with the water as it climbed to our house's second floor; fear for our lives that if water continued to rise, we; my two sons and I will drown. From the tiny window of our attic where we were hauled up, we began seeing the Marikina River banks water, raging like hell, in its belly were a couple of cars, jeeps and uprooted trees. Luckily, the water's natural direction was not towards us. The water that came by the subdivision were spilled water from the banks.
My youngest son was planning on how to get out of the house. He said, "we can swim! We have styrofoam, enough for the three of us. "He said that we can use this to paddle our way out through the flooded streets until we reached the subdivision gate which was like a kilometer away from our place. Good Lord,I thought silently. What bravado!
In the end, we ended up praying and praying and praying and promising to each other that if we get trough this safe we will change our individual obstinate ways!
These pictures were taken by my partner. As the waters were rising, he was there at the subdivision gates, wondering what will happen to us...
