Surviving Ondoy

The Flood creeps in

Last Saturday, September 26, started out like any other rainy weekend... I had gotten up during my usual time (around 7am) and since everyone else was asleep, I decided to go down, set up the TV and tune in on the SciFi channel while having water heated for my morning tea.

The rains were constant, but not that strong - or I should say, it was pouring... but there were no strong winds to accompany it to make me think there was a storm brewing. My brother-in-law, Ben, got up early too - but unlike me, he had a reason to do so... that being the need to attend to his nursing exam preparation review class. Before he left, he mentioned something about how rain like what we were experiencing, was the type to not just stop after a few minutes - the basis of his assertion, the seemingly gray sky... with no break in the rain clouds at all.

By this time, approximately around 8am, I had been enjoying the TV, opened my laptop and looked at what was new in Facebook, Yahoo mail and other sites I frequent. Ben had left - making sure he had some rain wear, and decided that the review center did not merit clothing that was too constricting - thus he wore shorts, a t-shirt, a jacket and loafers... he then left, taking the black car with him.

That said, I just continued doing what I was doing. I even vaguely noticed 'Ate' (our house help) come in, presumable after having washed clothes (yes, she was still washing, even if there were rains - she uses two umbrellas as her only protection from the rain as she washes our clothes), and I half expected her to go out once again with Bubbles in tow for her (Bubbles that is) weekly bath.

As you can no doubt see, I was oblivious to my outside - with the possible exception of knowing it was raining hard - but then again it had rained hard before without any issue, so I did not see any need to monitor this rain. Heck, there were no warning bells or whistles regarding what was happening, ans since Ate apparently stayed in longer, there was no one in our household observing what was happening outside.

My only indicator that something was happening was when the house help from the apartment door beside ours, were seemingly laughing and screaming outside while I heard Angelo, a kid a foe doors ahead of our say "Ate Vicky, yung halaman ninyo lumulutang na!" (Ate Vicky, your plant is floating already).

Now that got me thinking... floating? What the...? and I immediately looked out to see about a foot of flood water in our garage - I mean, for our plants to float, they had to have more than enough water around them to make them more buoyant - and these plants were on higher ground than the garage.


Our car's fate

I was definitely surprised, but I could not move to get our car out and possibly seek higher ground at once, as a neighbor's SUV was still blocking the garage - you see it was a long common garage, and we would bring in our vehicles on a first to arrive drives to the end of the garage - to make sure the latter arrivals had more than enough space in the garage to park their vehicles... and the Friday before said date, we arrived ahead of everyone else, hence the car was the deepest in said garage.

Eventually, the SUV got out, but by that time, the waters had risen to the lower tip of my car's exhaust pipe. My dilemma now was that if I should try going out, I would be doing it in reverse (tail pipe meeting the flood waters - with a good chance of stalling if this happened), and to make matters worse, the road outside was deeper than that of our garage. I then decided it was more prudent to leave the car in the garage - rather than risk it stalling in the flood outside the garage. I was gambling on the fact that the waters would not rise any further... after all, floods in this area were a thing of the past ever since the drainage were enlarged - and they were enlarged just about a year (or two) ago. Besides, our car; a 2008 Toyota Altis, was an automatic... and automatics were known to be more problematic in floods.

Better to keep the car in the garage, than risk it stalling and staying stuck outside then. It was a logical decision, far as I was concerned... and the less risky, given the current situation.

Unfortunately, the rain continued on... and the waters continued rising.

Had our neighbors been more neighborly, maybe I would have been able to bring the car out. Alas, no one thought to inform us... until our plants started floating. Maybe they were too busy saving their cars... who knows?


Fighting to preserve what we could

Pretty, soon my battle shifted from car (to which I could do nothing else about), to the water entering our abode... and enter it started doing too. I used the typical dam of rags... pushing them under any cracks between the door and the floor, and only managed to slow down the entry of the water... but slow it down enough to allow me time to assess the situation properly. Obviously, the first things I had to consider were the extension plugs that were lying on the floor - so we (Ate and I) gingerly unplugged these before lifting them up... ditto with the electric fans and PC. Anything that was basically ground-based and vulnerable to water, we removed - including some CDs.

As the waters continued rising, talks on TV about floods started coming in, and announcements that the power would be cut started filtering in. I then thought about everything I needed to do to ensure our safety and comfort. Drinking water and candles had to be prioritized - and naturally, it was at this moment that I realized that our drinking water had run out. Normally not a problem, since the water's supplier was just next door to our apartment. Unfortunately, now it meant opening the door and letting the water in. By this time the difference between the water inside and outside was four to five inches.

We would need water - and if we did not get any now, later would be too late - specially if the floods got worse... so I reluctantly watched Ate open the door and let all the water in.

The water was delivered; with great sacrifice... as I could not return my makeshift dam anymore... the current coming in was just too strong, and by this time, the power was shut down. My next concern... appliances - of which there were two major ones, a 5-foot medium-sized ref, and a 29-inch television.

With Ben not around, the only other male in the house was my relatively lanky son - Bryce, who was still asleep, having stayed awake the entire night (as he is wont to do every weekend) communicating with friends in the internet and playing online games with some of them. Simply put, Bryce was not available - so it was just Ate and me. Barbie was staying upstairs... not coming down and probably watching the flood from upstairs.

The TV was hard, but do-able. I remember carrying it at times, and in this instance, I did it once again... with some help from Ate. We placed it on the first major step on our stairs. A little explanation here... our stairs to the 2nd floor goes up against the wall, then makes a U-turn to go all the way up. It was at this U-turn that we placed the TV. One down.

The ref, however, was another thing. Despite our best efforts, we simply did not have enough momentum (and maneuverable space) to bring the ref up, so we returned the ref to the ground...another flood victim that could not be helped. Thoughts of what could have been had Ben been around intruded my mind for a while - but I shook that out soon enough... after all, there were other things I had to consider.


Making the best of a bad thing

I was feeling the need to go to the toilet - but I knew that any flushing would be useless now... so I just shook the feeling off. This, however, made me realize the importance of comfort - specially in situations like these. I then knew that later on, cooking in the dirty kitchen... the lowest point indoors, would be difficult, so I asked Ate to clear a place upstairs (which be then was already filled with hastily dumped stuff from the ground floor) for cooking. We then moved the stove and LPG tank to the second floor... I gave Ate special instructions to make sure the cooking would happen near an open window - in case the gas leaked at any time.

This way, Ate was able to cook lunch... and much later, dinner, with little problem. If we could not have a decent rest room for the day, at least we'd have decently cooked meals. That done, I turned my attention to other things...

As afternoon came, the rain continued, and I was getting worried. Pretty soon, the door would not be a factor in stopping water, as the flood's level was still rising, and would eventually reach our windows. It was at this time that our car's alarm started blaring.


The car's 'cry' for help

I guess the car had a warning program placed in - one that would let us know that it was in danger of being deluged by the flood waters. But there was nothing I could do. Still it eeriely sounded like a plea for help. Barbie was likewise affected by this 'plea'as she called Toyota to ask for help - asking what we could do. Apparently, the people at Toyota were likewise at a loss in what to do... finally, someone just told her to remove the battery, and by no means think of starting the car.

I also came to the same conclusion, as apparently turning the alarm off was not working (sue me, it was the first time I was experiencing a car stuck in flood) and was slightly delayed by our needing ot search for the necessary tools to remove the battery - flood waters already covered the lower cabinet where the tools normally were.

My one concern was needing to open the car, with the mistaken assumption that it was an enclosed environment - but as I looked in the window, I saw that the inside was already submerged in water, so I did not have second thoughts opening the car and popping the hood. Barbie, though, saw it as another heart rending moment. After all, she - like me earlier, thought the car's interiors would be okay. So seeing me open the door to pop the hood gave her images of the water rushing into the car.

I was soaking wet - not bothering with an umbrella, though wearing a jacket, I removed the battery. Let me also say that it was already difficult to see where I was stepping, as the waist deep water was murky with a brownish color. It was no surprise that as I was moving around, my feet tripped on what was probably a plant, and I went down into the flood water. Luckily - maybe because of my years of swimming, I had the presence of mind to keep my mouth shut as I went down. Lucky as well, that I happen to do this while not carrying the battery.

I lifted the hood, removed the battery - and yes, thankfully the alarm stopped. I then brought the battery into the house and deposited it beside the TV. I just hoped I acted in time to prevent any electrical shortage in the car's wiring.

By this time, the flood waters inside the apartment, were reaching my pelvis, and I was worried about moving the monitor of the PC and the other electrical equipment like the microwave. Lunchtime passed - but I was too busy thinking what else I had to do... besides, by this time, the kids were basically having brunch with Barbie upstairs. I guess, you could say that Barbie was making sure Bryce and Bernice's morale were not being too affected. Thought I heard that one of them... Bernice, I think, wrote the words 'help' on our windows.


Preparing for dark

As afternoon came, darkness started creeping in. Candles became the need - and flashlights. I made sure all these were ready earlier, and now it was paying off. I encountered a slight problem... matches. Since no one smokes in the house, matches or lighters were hardly lying around. Luckily, we did have our stove, which served as a source for flames - at least, enough to light one candle... and that was all I needed.

Equally lucky was the fact that one set of our tea-light candles was actually a Citronella type candle a.k.a. mosquito repellent candles. I guess, I had bought this long time ago - then had forgotten about them... or found no need to use them. Well, now was the time to use them, specially during sleep time, as we were sure to sleep without electricity that night.

As I observed the flood water rising, I realized belatedly that we should have brought up the chairs - they did not have to get wet... and they could have helped make sure there were more things to place stuff on. Ah well... maybe the next flood, these things will be more automatic to me - not that I look forward to one, mind you - but at least, it will (hopefully) be less chaotic.


Goodbye comic collection

It was at this time that I realized that I forgot something. The stuff in storage under the stairs... including my comic collection and training stuff. I knew they were now wet and I could do nothing about them. I guess, in an out of sight, out of mind capacity, I had lost track of these items. Again, I could have continued to dwell on this, but instead, I just compartmentalized it and set it aside. It was over and done - with nothing else to be of help in constantly thinking of it, so I just set it aside... focusing, rather, on what I could still do.

Just to put things into perspective, I'm talking about a collection that spanned decades - and though they were not mint condition... they still represented a sizable (both literally and figuratively) collection of comics representing DC and Marvel. Equally as irreplaceable were my collection of training materials - anything spanning coaching, team-building, leadership, Toastmasters... all gone.

I had to sit down for a while on the stairs, knowing these were all literally under me... and most definitely wet. But, I just did this for a moment - then got back to the needed tasks at hand. If this is my way of compensating, I don't know... but I'd like to think of it as a strength. My way of making sure I prioritized; thought well under pressure, and not worry about things I could do nothing about... and Lord knows I needed to do this.


Surviving the blame and guilt

At the height of the car blaring it's alarm, Barbie looked at me and blamed me for wrecking her car... and whenever I looked at the car, I always thought

'Could I have done better?
Should I have tried bringing it out?
Did I err?'

But I also know that doing that (blaming myself, that is) would just make me miserable. What's done was done - at that time, I made a decision... whether it seemed to later turn out wrong was beyond the point, and second guessing myself... thinking about it with hindsight may be important - but blaming myself would have been useless and counter productive.

Still, seeing her crying was hard. I took it upon myself to embrace her and explain to her my thoughts leading to the decision not to bring the car out... and this soothed her a bit. I guess, she needed to let her emotion out. After all, to me, it was hard to see the car in it's condition, but I knew there would be insurance to cover for the damages. In Barbie's case, the car was her symbol of a hard earned reward for all the work she did... so it was harder to see the fruits of her labor go the way of the flood.

Don't get me wrong... I too hated to see the car in it's condition, specially since it was my decision to let it stay in the garage. Late at night, as I thought the water was no longer rising... or at least, would not rise and reach the U-turn level of the stairs (it reached 3 steps - and another two steps were all that remained between the water and the TV), I decided to rest. But I would leek out the window, see the car... and be haunted by me decision.


Before retiring

Before sleeping, I tried to set aside clean water in a pail and place it near the stairs, so should anyone wish to do so, they had clean water to use without having to get it by wading through the flood. Again, I tried to make the experience more comfortable for everyone else. The only other person who worked harder than I did was of course Ate... and she asked me, in one of those seemingly ironic moments if this type of flood was something that happened often here in Bacood, Sta. Mesa... and all I could think of was that maybe it did happen at least once a decade - and as shown by our furniture filled with foam - and was floating in the flood water by the way.

Heck, the ref also started floating... and I just anchored it down with the tool box, flood water and dumbbells so it would not just float around... besides I needed it to place the computer monitor on top of.

My sleep was fitful that night. I had to be a light sleeper, should the rains get stronger, and I would be needed to raise the TV and other stuff to the second floor. I also had to relieve myself, and in a perverse manner, I did not want to piss inside the house - so to the window I went... and added my fluids to the outside flood. I don't think anyone saw me anyway. since it was about 3am, and the rain somehow disguised the noise of my deed.



The next day

I woke up early... around 5:30am... maybe earlier. I just needed to get up and get busy doing something. The first sign of good news? The water level was lower than yesterday... than last night. Hopefully, I thought, it would mean that the flood would be gone that day - and it did... around noontime. Electricity got back by 2pm... but prior to that, Ate and I were already trying to clean what we could.

Ben arrived by 9am, and he was seemingly shocked to realize that the new Altis was part of the casualty... and we were glad to know that he was able to keep the black Altis out of flood waters. So we at least had one car left with us.

We then started cleaning out the place... and we were surprised to realize that others likewise experienced similar loss. I mean, you should see the image of everyone (or almost everyone) bring out their refs and letting the trash collectors pick them up - similarly, sofas were brought out - either to be cleaned or disposed... us? We decided to dispose of ours.

I was happy to realize that two boxes of comics survived - the ones at the top of the pile... the ones the flood waters did not reach. On the other hand, I realized later that my digicam, a Canon Ixus V was in the car... as I sometimes leave it in there - so, one water-logged camera. I'll have to bring it to the repair center to see if they can still save it. I also left me rubber shoes in the car - but at least, that's washable.

On a cute note, Bubbles - our pet dog, refused to wade in flood waters and decided to keep to herself until the outside was walkable... and then, she allowed herself to go out and relieve herself. Guess that's the downside of being trained to do her business in the garage... poor thing.


Lessons learned and realizations discovered

Well for one, we only realized the extent of the effect of this sudden flood when we were listening to and watching the news, suddenly we seemed dumbstruck at the damage wrought by Ondoy elsewhere... although we were affected, we suddenly realized that we were still lucky... at least everyone was alive and safe.

Another realization... as I was cleaning, one carpenter (who was busy fixing stuff in another door) picked up a dried comic and started reading it... and it made me realize - it's not for the mint condition that I collect my comics, but for the story. That said, I started to rescue my collection - or at least, the ones I felt were worth rescuing. So the past few days of the next week found me carefully cleaning up and drying most of my collection - a difficult task, since another storm was approaching, making it difficult to dry them out.

But I got to save most of what I considered as valuable - story-wise. Still... I lost a lot - some I can't even remember.

As for lesson - I'll start parking our car in the garage looking face out... should the need to rush out ever happen again, it won't be as vulnerable as a reverse driving manner. Oh yeah... and be in a more prepared state come next time... should there be a next time. Hope not.

Anything that does not kill us, makes us better... or so, I'd like to think. Hopefully, this becomes collective wisdom for all in the Philippines... including those nitwits who miscalculated the water level of the dams, and released a great deal that Saturday on an already water-logged metro... sure, no one's admitting it. But a lot of people say that Ondoy's flood waters were too many, and rose too swift. A tropical depression - even one with Katrina-like water levels would not have such a swift and sudden effect.

Luckily, the ineptness of a few seems to have given the chance for many more to shine and show their civil service capability, their self-sacrifice, their care for others. For that brief moment, Filipinos showed that we were not a race of uncaring individuals - at least, not all of us are.