When typhoon 'Ondoy' hits Manila

We were supposed to go hiking up Mt. Pico de Loro this weekend but as early as Friday morning, my gut feel was already telling me 'Better luck next time.' But since accuweather.com didn't indicate heavy rains in NCR and South Luzon where this boondock is, we were still kind'a hopeful. But come 1am, I got the news that the trek was canceled. As they say, safety first!

And then today...

I woke up around 11am to find my sister standing at the side of my bed with all our three kitties in her arms. I asked her why is she carrying them all at the same time. She said papa is taking WonBin, our doggy at the other side of the house because the flood is fast rising and is getting inside our gate and that they had to put sandbags to prevent it from entering the house. The rain - although bereft of strong winds - was pouring down heavily as if manifesting heaven's misery. And it's not even signal number 1 in Manila.

And so, less than 30 minutes later, our house (at least the first floor) is already flooded, first up to our calves then later, it was already knee-deep. With the non-stop heavy rain all afternoon, the flood has already reached our thighs. Luckily, papa and ate was able to move most of our stuff in the 2nd floor.

Mom, who insisted going to work this morning, is stuck somewhere in Manila and it's already very difficult to reach her. We've been monitoring the news the whole day and it's heartbreaking to hear about people who have been stranded - cold and hungry - in their rooftops and those who lost lives because of accidents caused by the tropical storm. The rescue teams are having a hard time because of inaccessible roads and the shortage in search and rescue equipment.

It's almost 9pm and the rain has already stopped but the flood isn't subsiding yet. I kind'a blamed the LGU's engineer's office this afternoon when we got flooded because I was thinking it was probably because of the drainage system. But I saw photos of various areas in the whole NCR that are totally submerged in floodwaters and I thought our problem is very little compared to theirs. It's just that this is so unusual for us since our area is a bit high and on normal circumstances, all areas in Manila will be flooded but ours would still be flood-free.

So we were contemplating on not sleeping tonight just in case it starts raining hard again. We don't wanna wake up floating in floodwaters!

But seriously, God will take care of us so we need not worry... =)