Thankful

I slept at 3 am in the morning. While on a Will Smith movie marathon on HBO, I was also busy trying to write and beating my own record in Hotdog Bush in between. I didn't notice the time; and frankly I had so many stored energy because I kept sleeping the whole day. With the cool and gloomy weather, sleeping would be such a no-brainer thing to do.

Ondoy is a particular kind of storm. It signified a specific evil. Unlike Milenyo a couple of years back, Ondoy really didn't have strong winds that littered our streets with branches and leaves. We haven't seen cars damaged by flying objects so far. Our windows didn't rattle that much and the internet connection and cable weren't jammed. But just like in any storm, there were sustained winds, but it wasn't howling the whole day and it wasn't THAT scary. Ondoy has a different kid of scare. Ondoy's arsenal came through HEAVY RAINS. Heavy rains flowed non-stop. It was like the sky collected water vapors for years.


The fine grain and heavy pour of rain already started Friday evening. Even then, it was hard to go home. At the back of my head I knew it will be flooded somewhere soon. When I woke up on Saturday morning, with tons of things planned for the day, the image in my bedroom window made me all cancel it. It was gloomy. Looking out the window, the heavy rains made it hazy. It's the type of rain which forbids anyone to go out. From morning till afternoon, the rain's strength was consistent. There were times when we thought it would wane down only to regain strength again. In our village, some streets were flooded and my sister got stranded. To think that our village is not really flood-prone is scary. It only confirmed our worst fears that mainstream places like Pasig, Cainta and Marikina have shoulder-length floods that forced people to evacuate from their houses. In Facebook, some of my friends kept on reposting Emergency Numbers. Others share their unfortunate situations that forced them to stay in hotels and others transporting their appliances in their second floors then on their roofs.

There are countless images on the net and videos. There were cars dancing in the floods' current while people were squirming to get out. I think this was in UERM and I have friends who are doing their residencies there. That video's been reposted in Facebook. During lunch, my sister took her laptop and showed the infamous video to us and we were just shocked. It was scary. In other blog sites there were pictures of their own roads exclusive villages submerged especially in the eastern parts of Metro Manila. Local shows have been airing their Disaster Coordinating programs encouraging establishments and people to donate.

This morning, I woke up at 11 am and saw sun rays piercing through my windows. It seems Ondoy's gone. Knowing where I am right now and all my loved ones connected, I am thankful that we are all safe. I feel sorry for friends who got stranded and who have relatives and friends in those affected areas. I hope they would be able to carry on after this. My mother is thankful that the heavy rains happened during daytime otherwise it would've been a different story and lots of people would have a harder time evacuating and seeking for help. For those of us who are spared, let's give thanks. As for my brother, since all classes in Manila are postponed, he has that to thank for.