Oh, Ondoy!

I realized how fortunate I am that my last entry was about moving into my new room. Days after that entry was written, Typhoon Ondoy happened-- if I hadn't moved when I did, all of my things would've been flooded downstairs.

Yes, for the first time in our lives, our house was flooded. In fact, it was the first time for all the houses here in our village, I would think. More than the flood, however, I think it was extra nerve-wracking that we weren't all home when it happened. I ended up on an extended sleepover with my friends in Holiday Inn --what was supposed to be an overnight thing turned into a 4D-3N stay, as if we'd gone out of town-- while my dad was stranded with our driver at the mall after doing his groceries. He ended up staying there overnight, sleeping in the car, as the flood waters rose beyond neck-deep in Marcos Highway.

I was lucky, I guess, but I couldn't enjoy the luxury of being in a hotel as I thought of my dad, who wasn't feeling very well and had to endure an overnight stay in the car. I worried about my love and his family, after his last text was about going up on the roof of their bungalow. I had images of his entire family, including his nine-year-old brother, up on the roof in the rain. (Thankfully, they were fine, but I only found out two days later.) I worried about my mom, sister, and brother, who were at home with no electricity, flood waters rising in our first floor and trapping them on the second floor. Compound that with the images I was seeing on television and my own experience of driving through the flood and listening to the water under the car's engine, praying that the car wouldn't stall and I could get back to Holiday Inn in one piece, you could say that it was the most stressful few days ever.

Ondoy has come and gone, and new storms are on their way. We may have cleaned up our house, we may have been fortunate that the damage was not as great compared to others who really lost everything, but things have changed. The slightest hint of rain stirs up a panic in my heart as I do a mental inventory of where the rest of my family is. I haven't figured out a flood-free way to get home from my office, and that really bugs me. I worry about my ability to accurately gauge how deep flood waters really are, and what I would do if my car stalled in the middle and I was all alone.

This post is late, it's been almost a month since Ondoy happened, but sad to say the trauma remains. I don't think anyone will ever look at rain the same way again. At least, not for a very long time.