The day typhoon Ondoy wreaked havoc in Metro Manila

Photo grabbed from the front page of PDI Sept 28, 2009

Typhoon “Ondoy” is now touted to have caused the worst flooding in Metro Manila in 20 years!

Luckily, my kids were safely at home and away from the floods. †There was no power interruption in our place. †Cable TV was working and the telephone was working. †Water supply was not cut off, too. †So it was pretty much a normal day at home.

My ex-girlfriend and I were not as lucky. †Thinking that it was just another downpour we left the house at 10AM to go to the Philips warehouse in Las Pinas. †We never got farther than 3 kilometers from the house. †And it was already close to 5PM when we finally got back home.

I should have trusted my gut feel. †Entering Merville’s Gate 3 from South Admiral Village to pass through to Gate 2 on our way to West Service Road I was startled to see a white sedan parked in the street almost fully submerged in water! †Whoa! †I don’t recall having seen such flooding inside Merville, I told my ex-girlfriend. †But we shrugged it off. †I backed off and passed by Main Street to Gate 1 instead. †We were able to reach West Service Road so I thought maybe everything would be alright after all.

Big mistake.

For close to seven hours we were trapped in the West Service Road of SLEX. †Deciding to turn back after failing to make it to Nichols after two hours, we were shocked to find out that both Gate 1 and Gate 2 of Merville were already inaccessible due to neck-deep floods. †The only other access road should have been South Admiral in Leviste Drive but by 1PM West Service Road — and presumably all other still-flood-free roads in Metro Manila — was already converted into one big parking lot.

We decided to make the best out of the situation and had an impromptu date and picnic inside the car. †Amazingly, Globe 3G signal was good and I was on Twitter all the time, monitoring the situation all over.

Our 7-hour ordeal notwithstanding we were still among the very lucky ones. †In other areas in Metro Manila the situations were much worse. †People were fighting for their lives, their homes, their properties, and their sanity. †As I post this many are still in dire need of help.

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