Ondoy's Rage

It's 1am I can't sleep. I've been listening to the AM radio and been online the whole day. I woke up prepared to have a full day ahead, not realizing that Ondoy already made plans for me. Today, Manila was hit by its worst flooding in recent years. Ondoy brought a huge amount of rainfall never seen in 40-plus years. A PAG-ASA report said that the amount of rainfall today is equivalent to a month's worth.

Hundreds were trapped on their roof. I saw people being carried by the strong current of a raging Marikina river. A friend's whole house was submerged. A few of  my friends got stranded on the road. A friend of mine, after spending six hours on the road decided to leave their car and took the train instead. Another friend subsisted on her sports drinks and water for 7 hours while being stranded on the road. An officemate spent the night in the campus where she had a talk that morning. The sidewalk in front of our building caved in and a parked car got "swallowed by the earth.

there used to be a sidewalk, a fence and parked cars here 

 

I heard and read a lot of stories displaying Bayanihan spirit today. Twitter was helpful in giving me updates about what's going on in other parts of the Metro.

In the next few days, I'm going to hear a lot of stories . Some tragic and some would be inspiring stories of survival.

after the storm, Makati seem gloomier and emptier

Moments like these are opportunities for heroes to rise, loopholes in our disaster coordination strategy to be uncovered, politicians to share the limelight and volunteers to shine.

And Ondoy allowed me to see something else the sun has been masking all along.....