Here's My Story, part 1

I wasn't prepared for it. Neither were the hundreds who were affected, I guess.

It was a rainy morning, a perfect bed weather day. Even more so because the seminar that I had been preparing for was cancelled due to the bad weather. Ho-hum... time to go back to sleep. I snuggled under the covers and went blissfully back to dreamland. Little did I know that that moment was to be the last one on my bed, with my pillows.

A few hours later, the slight rain turned into a downpour. I got out of bed and was immediately updated by our helper as to the state of our garage. "Baha na sa garahe, Ate." I shrugged it off. Flooding in our garage is a common occurrence during such downpours. So we went about our routine.

At lunchtime, the power went off. Our helper stood up to fetch some candles and then slipped on the floor. Our kitchen floor was already wet. We looked out and was surprised to see the steady rise of flood water to our terrace. Minutes later, it entered the sala. Oh no.

I saw the water steadily rising but I still held on to the hope that it will just remain ankle deep. Throughout this time, I asked my Dad to stay in the room. We started gathering things that we can put on top of shelves. When it entered our bedroom, which was two steps up from the sala, it dawned on me that the water might still rise and we could get trapped inside. I started to panic.

A phone call from a friend came through and in his usual calm manner, he specifically gave me instructions. He told me to go out of the house and look for the nearest house with a second floor and to look for people who can help me bring my dad out. "Don't panic. You can do this." He was very sure of me and I prayed that I could be so sure, too.

And so acting on strict orders, I told my dad that I will leave him for a while and get help. I didn't wait for his nod of agreement and started out. I told our helper not to leave my dad until I get back.

When I got our of our house, I could see flood waters rushing forth. Pails, basins, all kinds of debris were swifly being carried away by the strong current. The water was neck-deep on the street, and I was already on tiptoe. Did I mention that I couldn't swim? So I held onto the gate of the next house, which had a second floor. I frantically knocked on their gate and then counted to five. When no one came, I went to the next house, which also had a second floor. They were all looking out from their 2nd storey windows and saw me floating by. Two men came to my rescue and they went back with me to get my dad out. They placed him on his rocking chair and carried him (with the chair)to their house.

I went back, got my bag (which has all our cash, and my cards), and my laptop (which is the reason why I can still do this now), placed them in a plastic bag and carried them out on my head. I went to the neighbor's and handed them my stuff, and then I went back a third time to get some clothes for me and my dad and to fetch our dog. A short frantic search ensued but we couldn't find her, and so we had to leave our house. Our almost-thirty year-old house that has never been flooded. And our dog.

That was around 5:30PM. I was able to make a last phone call to my friend to report that I was able to follow his instructions and that we were safely in the neighbor's house. After that, my phone's battery died.

We had nothing to do but wait. We only had a few cookies, which I salvaged on the way out of our house because I saw our food container floating, but no water. At 8:00 pm, the rain totally stopped. At 10pm, the neighbor's gate was in full view, and the water on the street was only ankle-deep.

We tried to sleep but it was a futile attempt. At first light, our helper and I went to our house to see the damage. It was a mess. A mess on top of 2 inches of mud. With the accompanying odor only mud can bring.

I started picking through piles of things - I recognized a shoe here, a book there, pens scattered about. It was truly a depressing sight.

I wasn't ready for this.