June 19, 2011 was the 150th birth anniversary of the Filipino National Hero, DR. JOSE RIZAL. However, the various celebrations programmed was marred by the rains brought by the southwest moon termed locally as "habagat" being pulled by the oncoming tropical depression Falcon (international name Meari). On June 22nd, Falcon intensified into a tropical storm, which, though not expected to make a landfall, was predicted by PAGASA (Philippines' Weather Bureau) to bring heavy rains to Metro Manila.
The weather was fine in the morning of June 23, 2011 but cloudy sky all over. Thus, I left the house for an appointment in Quezon City fully prepared in case rains fell during my trip but did not. I returned home and took my lunch with the expected rains yet to come. Late afternoon, rains started to fall reportedly flooding several areas in Metro Manila thereby stranding many people catching their way home.
Friday, June 24, 2011 had intermittent rains pouring in Marikina City. A loud boom preceded some three hours power interruption late morning of that day which provided little discomfort as the rains lowered the temperature. Our mid-noon rest was frequently interrupted by a roving local government official's pronouncement that the swollen Marikina River had already reached 16.4 meters and if it goes higher to the critical 17.0 meter level, we, the residents of Provident Villages, were advised to evacuate to higher ground.
At first, we're hopeful that the warnings would be proven wrong. Late afternoon, the series of strong rains falling for some fifteen minutes or so flooded the street outside our apartment compound. Knowing that the adjacent drainage system was poorly designed accounting to the usually flooding of the street after a heavy downpour, there was yet no cause for alarm. Furthermore, as our laundry area was always prone to accumulate much water after a heavy downpour which usually dissipated quickly after the rains stopped, the same occurred thereat. Such condition existed every time said downpour happened.
When evening came, anxieties hovered around when public announcement reverberated in the neighborhood that the critical 17.0 level of Marikina River had been breached and the residents of Provident Villages were enjoined to evacuate to higher places. Our intensifying anxiety was understandable due to bitter memories of Typhoon "Ondoy" (international name Ketsana) where incessant heavy rains the day before and the reportedly unannounced release of heavy volumes of water from three overflowing dam initiated an upsurge of muddy waters engulped Provident the day of September 26, 2009.
Our neighbors in the apartment compound frantically urged my wife and me with the one and a half year girl and her nanny to clamber up on the roof of the two floor apartment building. After enduring some five hours on the roof shivering with cold amidst the intermittent rains, our able-bodied male neighbors helped most of us, apartment dwellers to transfer to the third floor of the house of a kind neighbor passing through the flooded second floor of the adjoining neighbor;s house. We made it to safety by clinging on the cable wire hoisted between the two houses carefully helped along by these male neighbors over the raging twenty feet flood waters.
This traumatic "Ondoy" experience reliving in our minds was enforced further when we watched the evening TV newscast showing the four barangays (villages) already flooded by the overflowing Marikina River as well as thousands of residents relocating to safety of the evacuation centers. Some concerned apartment neighbors twice urged our family to join them in transferring to safer places.
We thanked them saying we would consider it accordingly after sizing up the unfolding situation. After some intent discussion with other apartment occupants, we all agreed that the tell-tale signs prevalent in the "Ondoy" devastation were totally absent thus precluding the necessity of evacuation. Though we remained at home, still we transferred some household items to the second floor of our apartment unit. We left our fate to the mercy of Divine Providence and peacefully retired for the night.
At around 11:30 PM, with the rains having ceased, I ventured out the compound and saw the flood waters along the one hundred meters or more stretch of the street serviced by the poorly designed drainage system mercifully vanished. Profused with gratitude to God's mercy for not allowing a reprise of the deluvial "Ondoy", I finally sought the peace and comfort of my bed for the rest of the night.
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