It all began with a rainy Saturday morning. We all thought that this day was like any other rainy day that struck our lives during this rainy season. But the mild rainfall had begun earlier in the evening and it hadn't stop until the following day. As I prepared myself for school, my father kept telling me that it might be possible that classes be suspended due to the arrival of the storm Ondoy. But I thought, "Not a chance", the rain is too kind and there aren't any strong winds. Besides, we already got used to PAGASA forecasting exaggerated news and for either Malacañang or DepEd announcing suspension of classes at peaks of a calamity. But then, the disaster was just starting. In our place the results were yet to be seen but if I had only known, the flood water was already rising in other lower provinces.
I was worrying about getting to school on time. I'm usually a slowpoke every morning and wasting my time in the bathroom is an essential ritual for me. I couldn't care about the non-stop rains and a possibility of outrageous floods didn't even cross my mind. I thought, "Nah, this is nothing compared to previous typhoons that killed so many some months and years ago".
I don't if it was mere coincidence but I was able to pass through Marikina river via circling about Marikina park that day going to Katipunan. (I usually pass through Tumana on my way to school but since I was in a rush, I didn't want to commute by going through three separate rides.) I never saw the river rise up to such level that morning; and to think it was still raining then. The river engulfed the area where joggers and bicycle riders used to walk on. That's when I remembered that the highest water level the river had risen to was way pass the light posts. The thought scared me and so I waved it away.
By 11:30 am, my first three-hour class ended. It was closed by the sudden yet short cut off of electricity. At that hour, the rainfall was at its peak. The rain's direction was really slanted and some edifices that could usually seen through our classroom window almost disappeared. I refused to think that we had it in for the worse.
Later on, I was texted by a classmate that my second and last class became a free cut because my Filipino professor couldn't get to school--without a speedboat. I actually found this message amusing. Dumb me, if that was already the case, that meant we were really in trouble.
Fast forwarding... I ended up staying in school because I got stranded. Katipunan was flooded and so are all other routes I can take to get home. The rain ceases to fall from time to time already but the flood it formed wasn't going anywhere yet. This time around, a little fear and worry began to creep into my system. We heard news that places which did not use to encounter floods were visited by floods at levels beyond what they could handle. I thought that our place in San Mateo was safe. I had no idea what was going on back home since any means of communication was cut off since noon that day. The last text message I got from my dad then was a mere "ok". When I saw in the news that a part of our barangay had floods that forced many of my kababayan to climb to the roofs of their houses, I could only shed tears. But I realized soon enough that my tears cannot save my family nor can it relieve me from all my anxiety. I just told myself what I repeatedly told those whom I had been comforting. "There's no use worrying and crying. The best thing you can do is to stay strong; if you loss hope now, who else can they get their strength from?"
Sunday morning, September 27, 2009 was the day that reunited me with my family. I was picked up from school at six o'clock am. The site of my whole family brought both shock, happiness and relief to me. I couldn't speak properly when I saw that they were all okay. I left school with two of my friends still stranded there. I was only able to say goodbye to them. I didn't want to leave them especially when they just awoke, but I can't take them with me either because our place is way too far for them and I knew that electricity was still out.
On our way back to our abode, we saw that multitude of people walking from who knows where to their respective homes. I saw the thick mud that stuck on their weary feet and legs. I saw and felt theanguish and fear on their hearts which they clearly reflected on their faces. I saw the thick mud that guised Marikina's streets, the asphalt that dissolved, cracked and scattered onto the sidewalks, dead dogs, stray pigs and many sticks and branches all over Batasan's bridge. I saw so much more pain there could possibly be. That was the first time I saw that one storm in a day can easily wipe away everything--living or non-living. Every single thing on this Earth can perish all in a day if God and Nature will it. We are powerless to the forces of God and Mother Nature. We are nothing.
That, I now know and never will I forget.
