Ondoy.

16 days after Ondoy hit the metro, people still can’t stop talking about it.

I never imagined my family would get affected. I never thought our house will be submerged in flood. It seemed as if it was the end of the world, trying to rescue everything: photo albums, books, appliances. Even our dog looked scared when we finally rescued him.

September 26, 2009 started normally for me. I woke up at around 6:30, ate breakfast, checked Facebook and Twitter. Since I came home late the previous night, and the weather seemed perfect for me to relax, I decided to take a nap until lunchtime. I woke up at 11, my head throbbing, thinking I needed more sleep. I woke up again at 12:30, knowing my family is having lunch already. I decided reply to a colleague’s text message first, then opened my bedroom door, only to see my sister carrying our newly laundered clothes being brought up to the second floor. She gave the clothes to me and just said, “Ilagay mo sa taas”. I asked her what was happening. “Pinasukan na tayo ng tubig sa bahay”. I took the clothes and brought it to my sister’s room. I saw that they had already brought flashlights, batteries, candles, matches, and medicine kit upstairs.

I went down, and saw that most of the magazines and books were put on the dining table. Flood was already ankle deep. Water was creeping in at the bottom of our book shelf, so I tried putting all our books at the top shelf. I took our photo albums and brought it to my sister’s room. My sister, Ate Tin, realized our dog was still at the back of the house, and might probably drown if we don’t save him. Poor dog. He looked so freaked out when we saw him. He was whimpering, as if telling us to rescue him. We decided to let him stay in the terrace where he can be safe. Unfortunately, his dog food was already submerged in water, so we decided to just give him leftover rice to eat.

My dad was not home the day it happened. He was about to go back from Ilocos when we texted him that flood has already entered the house. He and my two uncles were stranded in Pampanga when we said water was already mid-thigh. I knew my dad was in a panic, but he couldn’t do anything.. Imagine 4 girls trying to rescue whatever needs rescuing. Thanks to my adrenaline rush, I was able to carry 2 Shellane gas tanks, 1 speaker (the box type from the ‘80s), our TV that is not even a flat screen, and 2 Orocan pails filled with rice and food.

Ate Norma was such a trooper. She never stopped working from the time the flood was already inside our garage, until about 8:30 pm. We didn’t have time to eat lunch; she was already shaking from hunger. She was still able to cook our lunch, kasi saying naman daw ang patola, nahiwa na niya. By 8:00, she was still bringing stuff up. Natumba na ang refrigerator namin, but she was still persistent in taking out all frozen meat, so we still have food to cook the following day. She wanted to rescue everything.

By 9:00, the rain stopped. We couldn’t think of anything else that needs rescuing; our second floor had barely enough space for us to walk on, but we didn’t mind. We were just glad we were all safe.

At around 6:00 the following morning, Ate Norma woke up and told me flood hasn’t gone down yet. Since there was nothing to do, I decided to sleep some more. An hour later, Ate Norma started yelling at me, “’te, si Papa nasa baba!”. Because she woke me up and I felt so cranky, all I said was, “Ano gusto mo gawin ko?.” Becaue really, I couldn’t do anything. We were stuck upstairs.

My dad braved the chin-high floodwaters just to get to our house. Sabi niya hindi na daw siya mapakali at gusto niya makita ano lagay ng bahay. I guess my dad was shocked to see what happened to the house, especially since the renovation was done a little less than 2 months ago.

So, that’s my Ondoy story. I do hope those families who were affected get to move on.