We Survived Ondoy

It was one gloomy and rainy Saturday morning, roughly 3AM when I was awaken by heavy rains. I checked our Owner type jeep, the house and our dogs, they were all okay, though the sound of heavy rain made me shiver, I went back to sleep after making sure that everything's okay.

Around 6AM when I started working, Jeff, while preparing breakfast together with his father noticed that flood is slowly rising. I've seen it rise before and it subsided immediately so I didn't worry.

At 8AM, still busy working, I checked out the street again to see if the flood is going to get higher, and there I was, shocked at the very sight of the flood coming in to our garage, which never happened in the 6 months that we stayed in Bulacan.

It became a routine to check the flood if it's going to get higher, I went to the kitchen window to check the water almost every ten minutes. I also managed to put some of our things inside our cabinets and fixed our bed so it could hold other important stuff.

Around 10AM, Papa (Jeff's father) and Jeff decided to bring MJ to a higher ground, infront of another house a few streets away from ours. While away, I managed to prepare our lunch, to be sure that we'll not be starving when the flood continue to rise.

When they arrived at 11AM, they saw that flood water is indeed rising, really fast. They managed to put our washing machine up to a table, roughly my hips high. Around 12NN after taking our lunch, the flood water was nearly reaching the flooring of our house, an inch away to be exact.

Around 12:30PM, a small sign of relief shown when flood water started going down. We were already working through our different chores, at the sign of hope that we won't be flooded after all.

Came 1PM, when I noticed that our room is nearly filled with flood water, it came as a shock as I just told Jeff, "Andito na sya". He checked the room and found the water rising really fast. Then it went in to the kitchen door, then it came from the main door. I immediately stopped my work though my shift will end at 2PM, I knew something bigger is coming and I'm just keeping it to myself. I don't want Jeff to worry though.

We were still watching TV, probably hoping that it's all just our imagination, but it's real. I stood infront of our kitchen window staring outside, trying to search my brain for any option we have left. When I searched nothing, I prayed, silently praying for help.

In just about ten minutes of standing there, the water level rose from my ankle to my legs. A good 20 minutes when it reached my knees. I was so terrified, trying to get everything on higher places, we worked together and managed to get the ref on top of a sofa chair, the computers to the top of the highest cabinet we have. When I checked the office I saw two people riding a rescue boat, thinking it was already a sign that we have to move out, I hurriedly took the house keys, our important documents, took my phone, my wallet and Papa's cellphone, placed them in a plastic.

In a few minutes we were out of the house and the water is at waist level, I hurriedly took my dogs' leash to bring them with us, I know they're both terrified too and I can feel their eagerness to survive this tragedy. I also lost my slippers on our way out of the street.

Upon reaching MJ, the water was at knee level, a very unusual event, according to our neighbors. We hurriedly pushed MJ towards the main street where we know we are going to be safe, thank God for the man who helped us push MJ, he's God sent.

No place else to go, some village employees told us to go to the church but I can't leave my dogs behind. All soaking wet, we rested in the jeep and waited for help.

No one came, no one will offer anything. Jeff and I decided to go back to get some clothes to keep us warm, we knew this is gonna be a long night.

We had to fight strong currents and we held hands just to go back to the house. When we reached the house, I was again, terrified by how high the water is, outside it was at chest level, inside, it was nearly as high as my waist.

At that time all I was asking from God is to save us from this tragedy, I didn't mind our stuff, we can no longer save them, but our lives are more important.

We hurriedly took our food basket, a water container, some of our clothes with towel, a blanket and another pair of slippers. We also took our emergency lamp we had on top of my dining table. When we went out, the water rose an inch high, and it was nearly 5PM and we had to rush, we don't want to be left there finding out we couldn't get out because of the water level.

We noticed that Papa already moved MJ a street from where we left him, good thing MJ is still working though submerged in knee deep water. We were able to change our clothes around 6PM and settled inside the jeep, moving once in a while to find a higher place.

We had to settle in the middle of the main road because roughly 7PM, water from Marilao and Bocaue main road is already rushing towards the village. From where we were at, water is almost knee length. The street is packed with cars parked in the gutter, some even with families inside their vans, probably trying to save their own lives from the wrath of the flood.

Surprisingly we cannot sleep, we were checking flood level every now and then, we had no communication with anyone as both cellphones lost their charge. Our food basket is packed with noodles, something we can't prepare without our stuff in the kitchen, good thing there are "chichirya" left for us. We each had a small pack of cheese ring and gulped the only water bottle we managed to bring.

Around 3AM when the water from where we were is walkable, Jeff and Papa tried to go out of the village to get something for us to eat, upon reaching the guard house, the water was at hips level. They decided not to go out anymore as the people said, water is at chest high outside. At 5AM Papa and Jeff decided to go back home. Left with nothing to eat, dogs to take care of and just staying in the jeep, it had me think about what's going to happen to us. I wanted to cry, but no tears came out of my eyes.

We were able to eat probably around 9AM, only using plastic bags as our plate and hands as our utensils, I was then able to feed our dogs too.

Around 12 NN I decided to go back home to check the house. Water is still at hips level outside and above knee level inside, Papa is still trying to clean and revive our appliance, but I lost hope when I saw the damages. I found out that the water was at chest level the night before and most of our things are soaked.

Came 5PM we decided to just leave the village, brought what we can and Papa fixed MJ. Inside the village, it's as if no tragedy ever happened, except that there's no water and electricity, outside, the road is swarming with mud, soaked appliance and people trying to recover from the tragic event.

I saw houses that are no longer recognizable due to massive mud and some were not even lucky as they were washed out. I heard from some people that there were casualties, mostly from people living near the bridge. My heart broke that day, not because we lost everything we saved for, for 4 years, but because a lot of people have suffered even more than we did.

We managed to reach Mama's (my mom) house and settled for the rest of the night. I learned in the news that the typhoon damaged almost all of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Pasig, Marikina and Cainta. Also, mom's home was flooded too the night before. It was at waist level, luckily when we came their electricity is back and they have water.

From there I learned how bad the tragedy was and how people from Cainta and Pasig are needing more help than us. We may have lost around 80% of our stuff but good thing is we're still together and unharmed.

Thank God. Let's pray for our fellow Filipinos still fighting for their dear lives.