I woke up to a steady rainfall on Saturday morning. I recalled that it had been raining since last night so I texted my mom asking her how the situation was at home. It usually floods in our compound and we have grown accustomed to that. What causes her stress is that the Honda is parked near the river, so everytime the water rises she needs to find someone to park it on higher ground if my brother is not home.

I also thought of how lucky I was that I work at home since I just read a Plurk saying that they are forced to go to work despite the typhoon.

At noon, Jay Leno was on tv when suddenly the cable went out. I remembered feeling relieved that I was able to watch Hugh Laurie before the cable lost its signal. After a few minutes, I received a text from my sister in California asking how I was. It was then that I learned that Marikina has been in the news because of the quick rise of flood water in several areas. I felt lucky that this part of Barangay Fortune is safe from flood. Just then I received a call from my sister at my mom’s (they live a few steps away from UERM) asking how I was. I told her that Fortune is located on high ground. She told me that the flood has almost reached the steps going up to the first floor. Luckily, they live on the 3rd floor.

At this point, I just received a somewhat-harsh evaluation from a client about my work performance for the past two weeks. I was busy trying to come up with a proper response. It took almost an hour of checking data from the project and going back and forth to Thesaurus.com for more appropriate words. All of a sudden my screen went blank. Dang! My laptop has no battery. I felt very frustrated because I have been working on that response and I wasn’t sure if it was saved as a draft. (The next day I found out that it wasn’t.) After a few minutes I got a text from my mom asking me how I was. She also said that Aurora Boulevard is now under 10 feet of water. The flood has reached the first 3 steps of the 1st floor and they were fearful that the water level will keep rising. The rain has not let up and it seemed that it will not stop anytime soon. All the while, I had no idea that many houses in Marikina are already being swept away in the river and that the situation was quickly becoming alarming. I was busy with work and the tv was already turned off by this time.

So there I was, no tv, no computer, my phone’s battery low signal blinking every 2 seconds. I learned from people who live nearby that villages in Marikina and Cainta are already under several feet of water. People were already on their rooftops waiting to be rescued. A relative who lives in Greenland said that they just parked the car a few minutes as they fetched their children in their home, a few minutes later they realized that the car has been dragged by the heavy water current and they had no idea where it went. It was only at this point that I learned the typhoon’s name, Ondoy.

Like a flash, Ondoy was wreaking havoc all over the Philippines. It’s a good thing that I have this tiny battery-operated radio where I listened to updates about the storm, stranded people asking for help, anxious people waiting for news about their loved ones. I was becoming more and more concerned as I heard news reports on the status of the flood in UERM. When I heard that the water level has reached the 3rd floor, I became more tense knowing that the hospital’s 3rd floor is in level with our 2nd floor. I kept texting my mom, my sister, my brother and my cousins asking how they were, but to no avail.

I made french toast to release the tension building up inside me. But I had no appetite at that time. A few minutes later, I made grilled cheese sandwiches.

Time passed by slowly. It was only 6 in the evening and I had nothing to do. I decided to go to bed to sleep but I kept waking up. My cell phone’s battery has finally given up. I had no idea what time it was. I remember waking up several times in the night and every time I looked outside all I could see was darkness. I just forced myself to sleep although my mind kept forming horror stories on its own. That’s the problem with having a wild imagination.

Morning finally came. Still no news from my mom. I decided to go to SM Marikina since I really needed to put in at least a couple of hours of work, and charge my cell phone’s battery. As I traveled to the mall, I surveyed the damage Ondoy left the city (and people) of Marikina.

After getting stuck on the road for two hours, I finally arrived at SM and found their basement parking muddy and closed for cleaning. When I got to Figaro, I was finally able to contact my sisters in California to let them know I’m okay. I was also able to get in touch with my mom. Gratefully, the water only reached their first floor. Our vehicles though were submerged in water but it is still a good thing that they were not dragged by the strong water current.

As of this writing, the death toll has gone up to 240.  All I could do right now is pray for those who lost their loved ones.  Thankfully the spirit of brotherhood is alive and well, as we provide to those who need food, shelter, and clothing. International organizations have been sending aid to the Philippines in whatever way they can.

There is hope for humanity yet.