Wobbling Towards the Vortex of Ondoy's Wrath

  Quezon City, Rizal, Philippines
Wednesday, September 30, 2009

One of Metro Manila's flooded streets

I'm a tenderfoot when it comes to experiencing typhoons. Davao, my city, happens to be one of the few fortunate places in the Philippines that nature has kept safe: it’s typhoon-free. And I’ve always prayed it stays that way.

Although storms of different strengths and magnitude — tropical  depressions, tropical storms, typhoons and super typhoons — never fail to visit the Philippines every year, I’ve had very few brushes with them. I can readily call to mind only two very memorable encounters: Ruping, a.k.a. Mike in 1990 and Milenyo, a.k.a. Xangsane in 2006. I was in the capital or near it when both struck the country.

Instinct has taught me though that when I’m in Manila, either in Mega or Metro, it’s best to stay where you are if there’s a storm because you’ll never know what could happen if you’re out there in the open. It was this same instinct that made me stay in my modest room in a hotel along Kalayaan Avenue in Quezon City when Ondoy, a.k.a. Ketsana, pounded Central Luzon last Saturday, September 26. It was this sixth sense which insisted that I was safer there.

Residents wading in the floodwaters

A day before going to Manila to attend a national conference of statistics practitioners in Diliman, I’ve heard about Ondoy’s coming. But I was comforted by the weather bureau’s forecast that it would make landfall over Northern Luzon and that the capital and the rest of the country’s largest island would only be experiencing moderate to heavy rains. Hmmm...nothing alarming, I thought. It was going to be one of the worst assumptions I’ve ever made.

That Friday evening, at around 9:00 p.m., a slight drizzle began to fall. While browsing the Web at the hotel’s cafe, I kept hoping the weather would be fine the morning after. For I was supposed to hook up with a couple of long-lost friends who have urged me to stay a day more after concluding my official business.

At around 8:00 a.m. the following day, it started raining cats and dogs. Several minutes later, I got a text message from my friends informing me that they’re cancelling our meeting. However, if the weather improves, we’ll push through. They also advised me to stay indoors while the typhoon was raging.

Police rescuing a victim

A bit anxious, I peeked at the street from my window and saw that the water in the street below my room had started to rise to ankle’s level. Minutes later, I noticed that the traffic barely moved and heard the sound of sirens. It occurred to me that the volume of water Ondoy dumped all over Metro Manila must have been heavy. At that moment, I began feeling that something unusual was happening out there. But I kept hoping though that it was nothing tragic.

At around 11:30 a.m., the rain started to subside. I felt my tummy grumble so I decided to grab a bite at a nearby KFC chain along Matalino Street, which is just a block away from my hotel. I was barely a few meters away from Kalayaan Avenue when the torrent once again poured. The heavy rain and the howling winds that accompanied it took its toll on my umbrella which snapped several times, leaving me cold and soaking wet and forcing me to hike faster.

Upon reaching KFC, I readily walked into the counter and rattled off my order. When food was ready, I climbed up the second floor, sat in one quiet corner and ate my lunch. Sated, I lingered there for almost an hour but the downpour showed no signs of subsiding. I was getting impatient so I braved the rains and went back to the hotel. Despite having been drenched, I hadn’t the faintest idea that I was already wobbling towards the vortex of Ondoy’s wrath!

Submerged cars

It was not until I turned on the TV in my room later in the afternoon and heard the pleas for help coming from several flooded areas that I realized the gravity of the situation. Word has it that the 6-hour downpour that Ondoy brought was a record-breaker: it was the highest ever recorded rainfall in Metro Manila since 1967!

No wonder Marikina and several cities and towns in Metro Manila as well as those in Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna, among others, were submerged in water and people in those parts needed to be rescued immediately. Not a few were politicians, actors and other celebrities trapped inside their own homes. I thought that if this was happening to the rich and famous who dwell in multi-storey concrete houses in plush subdivisions, then the rampaging floodwaters must have swept away the poor who live in dilapidated shanties. The disturbing images I later saw on TV confirmed my assumption. As it is, Ondoy spared no one that came along his way.

Good thing I didn’t book myself a return flight on that fateful day. Otherwise, I could have been one of those stranded and forced to sleep for a night at NAIA because their flights had been cancelled. Or worse, I could have been stuck in neck-deep water along EDSA on the way to the airport. OMG, the thought of this grim scenario still gives me the creeps!

Typhoon victims

While writing this, I thought it would probably take some time before people will be able to accept this tragic event, especially those who’ve lost their homes, their belongings, and their loved ones. But one thing occurred to me: God must have a profoundly divine reason for allowing all these to happen.

I can only surmise what it was. And my  guess  is  this. Perhaps He  was  trying  to send a message to some people — corrupt and overstaying government officials, unscrupulous businessmen and others whose depravity and excesses must have reached their quotas. I can only wish the intended recipients got His message loud and clear and mend their ways before it’s too late.