Ask Me First, I Might Say YES

Weekly Photo Memes

Oct 4, 2009

Our place was not one of those hardly hit but still affected us in many ways like what most Metro Manila residents had gone through. The experience was worth noting for the lessons it brought to most of us. The wrath of Nature is calling our attention and everyone must cooperate to halt the effects of Global Warming

It was one lazy rainy Saturday morning, the bed weather is very inviting so I woke up later than the usual. Everything started normal, went down and drank a glass of water, went online, posted a 1 day late blog entry for my fix it friday meme, check my email, and updated my Facebook account with the status "Ondoy Ondoy Go Away!!!" and then went down again to make some coffee. Outside our house, the flood water was rising, and after a while, we felt that the water was slowly seeping inside the corners of our house. My sister then started removing things from the floor, then we lifted up some appliances and placed it on higher ground except for the huge refrigerator that obviously we can't lift. My father just had a cataract operation last Friday, so the work was left to my sister, me and my mom.

It was probably 10 years ago when flood water would normally enter our house during heavy rains, not since we had our flooring elevated and our street as well. The heavy rains brought by Ondoy was really unusual and alarming. After we had our lunch, the electricity then went out, after a while my cellphone was beeping a low batt sound but I was able to access my Facebook account via my mobile before it went dead totally, updating my status to "Terrible ONDOY and the rains keep pouring! First time after many years that flood entered our home!!!"

Without electricity, there's no water as well. Lucky for us we were able to stock up a drum of water the other day and have something to use to wash our dishes and to take a bath.The hard part was bringing the water upstairs, it was really energy consuming! By late afternoon, water inside reached almost knee deep and the rain hasn't stopped, each one of us were upstairs already including the dogs. We were praying and hoping that the rain would stop soon. We instructed our youngest sister to just stay put at her work and just go home the next day when water has already subsided. I was feeling restless, had no idea what's going on at the other parts of Metro Manila. We don't have batteries to power up our radio to get the latest news. So I was thankful to find out that my sister's mobile has an FM radio, soon enough I was trying to locate a station that would veer away from the regular FM programming and thank GOD there is JAM 88.3. The hosts Gang and Lambert proved to be very helpful to those who had no electricity and no access to AM radio. They were doing public service by taking calls of those who need assistance while updating its listeners of important information, numbers to call for assistance and providing comfort to those who feel helpless. I was tuned in until 3am, you can sense they were already tired but trying their best to be of service. I can't sleep as well, checking up downstairs because our front door was only partially closed since the wood expanded and wont fit the frame. Thank God for candles, amidst the darkness, we can sense some security by giving us some light, offering some prayers and reading the word of GOD for comfort and assurance.


Thank God again, it was no longer raining the next morning and water subsided fully inside the house although outside it was still a foot high. We settled eating canned goods for 2 days, but that's ok, others had nothing to eat. Cleaning the house was the biggest challenge, but that's nothing compared to those who lost their house and their loved ones.

We are still blessed and thankful that GOD is there to listen to our prayers. I've proven many times that prayers can really make a big difference. When people unite in prayers, miracles can happen. Super Typhoon Pepeng, predicted to directly hit Metro Manila after the wrath of Ondoy shifted its direction affecting only a smaller part of the archipelago. I believe that's the power of prayers!!!

Let's keep on Praying!

Categories: ,