Ondoy My Ondoy survival story: Okay, its just my Ondoy story. This is going to be quite long so bear with me please. :) Freshmen who have never experienced true terror in floods should read this the most. :D It was my first semester in college. My schedule in AMV, if I recall correctly, was Monday to Thursday, from 7am to 1pm. Sept. 26, 2009 was a Saturday. I was not supposed to go to UST that day, but one of our professors specifically asked our class to go to school on Saturday for a quiz because we were way behind schedule. That was due to class suspensions from previous typhoons, and the one week class suspension of AMV because of the AH1N1 virus. I went to UST unprepared for the quiz, but more unprepared for the impending storm I shall never forget. I am from Valenzuela City and I left for UST not knowing there was a storm. Yeah, ignorance! Anyway, I arrived at AMV at around 8:40am. I was 20 minutes early, so I started reviewing helplessly since I never study at home. I was in the fourth floor and I noticed that it was raining really hard, but it didnt matter. I had an umbrella! Anyway, our class waited for our professor in our room. At around 9:05, she arrived, and told us to study while unpacks her stuff. After about 10 minutes, we heard an announcement that all classes are suspended. Only then did I find out that there was a storm. Still, she gave us the quiz since we were there are supposedly prepared for it. Im pretty sure I failed that quiz. After that miserable time I had in our quiz, I went to the CR. As I was urinating, I saw the plot of land where the Quadricentennial Pavilion was being built. Yes, Im tall. It had huge chunks of holes in it already full of rainwater. Suddenly,information I should have known ever since I entered UST popped in my head. UST gets flooded really easily! I walked quickly and went downstairs and half-ran towards the Lacson entrance. When I reached the entrance of the car park, the flood was already about one foot high. I then saw two of my classmates who were planning to fight mother natures wrath. One of them brought slippers, and the other bought slippers. I was very cheap, so I didnt buy slippers. Instead, I put my shoes in my bag and walked barefoot. While we were waiting for him to get to buy one, the water already rose by another four inches at least. And so, we trudged through the flooded streets hoping to ride a jeepney bound for Tayuman. Unfortunately, there were no longer any jeepneys that were capable of public transportation, so the three of us decided to walk. There were two guys and a gal in our group. I was the taller guy, so I walked first to use my long legs to check the streets we were about to walk through blindly in case there were man holes. Along the way, my classmate who bought new slippers lost them to the current of the flood. I just had to laugh, since right there and then, I knew I made the right decision not to buy slippers. >:D After an arduous, but rather thrilling experience of a walk, we reached Tayuman. The flood there wasnt too high. The other guy bid us farewell since he just needed to ride a jeepney nearby to get home. On the other hand, the gal and I had quite some distance left to travel. We rode the LRT to Monumento Station, and tried to ride a jeepney bound for Malanday. It was flooded there too, and I thought were going to have a hard time getting a jeepney to ride. Luckily, we were able to get a ride quite quickly! As we traversed through MacArthur Hiway, I saw that the streets were no longer flooded. It was a good sign. Unfortunately, the jeepney was unable to cross the Tullahan Bridge since the river was gushing over the bridge itself, and flooded the rest of the Hiway. We went down the jeepney and walked towards a nearby gasoline station. My classmate then told me that someone she knew worked nearby, and that we could go there to rest. I really wanted to go home, so I declined her offer. I think that was the wrong choice. The Tullahan bridge was the landmark that divided Malabon from Valenzuela. Some brave people were crossing the bridge, not minding the danger of being swept into the dark death of an abyss that is the trash and crap in that horrendously dirty river. I was young and stupid so I decided to cross the bridge too. Too bad though. Moments before I crossed the bridge, I failed to notice that the bridge was slanted towards Valenzuela. To make things worse, I forgot that after crossing the slanted bridge, the hi-way was also slightly slanted for a few hundred meters. The walk to the tricycle terminal was about a quarter of a kilometre. I had to move. I put my bag on my right shoulder and walked. As my bare feet stepped on the gushing water from the river, I immediately noticed how strong the current is. I had to walk very carefully to not get swept. After passing the river, I noticed that the current of the flood on the hi-way was very weak, but the flood was definitely higher. I stand at 511. After maybe 50 meters, the flood was knee level. After another 50, it was waist level. After yet another 50, it was stomach level. After a further 50 meters, the flood was at chest level. I noticed that since I was the tallest person there, I was also the last one to quit trying. So, I went to the side walk where solid ground was higher. There was a Jollibee on the right side of the hi-way, and it seemed to still be operating. I tried to go there, but I misjudged a step on the flooded staircase. I somewhat made a half dive. GOD DAMN IT I thought. I was positive I saw a Magicarp attack me using splash to my face before the water gushed upward and hit face. My bag got wet. I tried to get my handkerchief to wipe my face, only to find out that it was still in my pocket. ARGH! My shoes well already wet, so I decided to just wear them top make myself more comfortable. Even my Nokia 5320 in my bag got wet! Ignorance told me to try to operate it. It was a stupid idea. My phone died. I was somewhat in a panic! I got that phone in a hard way, and I still havent sent my mom a message or anything. DAAAAMN! Jollibee personnel were no longer letting people enter. Their restaurant was full, but there was no flood inside. At least, none yet. I tried to force myself towards the next commercial establishment: 7-Eleven. As I walked in front of it, I saw a cockroach walking around the back of the guy in front of me. I told him about that mild issue, and he asked me to flip the cockroach off. I am disgusted by cockroaches, but I knew I was just as dirty at the moment so I flipped it upward from his shoulder. It landed a meter away and I heard a lady shriek. Oops. Sorry, I thought. XD It was locked and their products were already floating. That was the first time I have seen a 7-Eleven closed. I somewhat heard King Theodens voice say You have no power here. as I read the sign inside 7-Eleven stating that it was open 24 hours a day. I was thinking 50 more meters, and Ill be at the tricycle terminal! I just had to enter a street to the right towards a market, but the flood was even higher. It was more than six feet deep. I knew it was time to quit. I decided to go back to the front of Jollibee where there was more space. I saw a middle aged man with an amputated foot who was clinging to his bicycle by the entrance of Jollibee. I felt some pity for him. I just stood there and looked at the doomed car on the other side of the hi-way. It was still raining really hard. After a few minutes, I looked again at the car and noticed that the flood was still getting higher! I tried to get to 7-Eleven again. As I walked through, I noticed a sharp pain on my right arm. I instinctively raised it and saw a worm about four inches long, as thick as a Zest-O straw clinging to my skin. It thrashed quickly as it clung to me. I noticed after a split second. Worms dont thrash like that. Worms dont even bite. It was a snake! But I just flipped it off like the cockroach. I think the guy next to me saw and realized what just happened. Anyway, I tried in vain to cross the street again. The flood was still at least six feet deep. T_T I decided to just stand there and wait. I then saw a guy misjudge a step and HOLY COW he was drowning! I pointed it out and another guy pulled him. The guy who almost drowned lost the umbrella he was holding. Yes, I notice useless details at times. XD Anyway, I looked at a different car and determined that the flood was still getting higher. I had to move. It seemed that people were also realizing that. But where do we go? For the first time in my life, I was able to appreciate Tambays. Those topless guys who just smoked and drank and sat all day long were of help. One of them climbed above a doughnut stand to pull people up. Another two, were down with us helping people climb the doughnut stand to get to the ceiling of 7-Eleven! They took me as a challenge to get up there. It was difficult, but I made it, but one of my shoes fell. One of them handed it to me. I was very grateful. It was 1:30 in the afternoon. There were about 50 people there. I looked around and saw a lone billboard. It stated Jesus is hope. It was an interesting read, considering the circumstances. The roof was slanted, so we either sat or laid down. A few minutes later, people were no longer climbing up to the roof. I think there were about 200 people with me. I just sat with some people. A pretty girl in our group was wiping her arms using tissue. I asked for one. She gave me one, and I was surprised that it was wet, but it smelled good. I immediately used it to wipe my face. After that, she told that what she gave me was feminine wipes. I laughed and told her I would rather have that wiped on my face than leave my face with flood water on it. Eventually, our group got into a discussion. There were five of us. Three guys, two girls. One girl was still in high school. The other one was very pretty and looked like she was in college. After some small talk, I found out that the pretty girl was almost double my age! Damn! Even at 30 years old, she was hot! Too bad though. She was already working. Luckily, her phone was working. I asked if I could borrow it so I can send my mom a message. The thing was, I didnt memorize my moms phone number! Soon enough, I surprised myself for being able to remember her number! I just told he I was safe but stranded on the roof. :D Moving on, one of the guys told us he was in the rescue unit of Valenzuela or something. He disappeared after a few hours and just told us he would be back. The other was working really hard on his job and has a family already. The three of them told me and the high school girl that we should study well since it is fun and was definitely easier than working. Eventually, we heard a commotion at the side. There was an inflatable bed there which was being pushed by two guys! The fare towards the tricycle station was 50 pesos, and they could accommodate three people at most per trip. I was cheap, and I was heavy. I didnt want to risk it, and they were sure to charge me more. After their first trip, they returned but doubled the price. The price really made me quit trying. Some people were frantically trying to get a ride since they have families waiting for them at home. Hmph. I was no longer in such a hurry since the roof was safe. Their third trip was the last one though, since the bed got punctured. Haha! Later on, there was another commotion! The guy who was the supervisor or something of 7-Eleven was giving away their food I got to talk to him and he said he was giving it away because it was now impossible to sell, and it was insured. I got some water, bread, and Cadbury Chocolate. I shared everything with my group. That was the most delicious Cadbury I have ever tasted. Why? Because it was free of course! :D Later on, interesting things happened every 30 minutes or so. Wed suddenly hear people shouting May nalulunod! and everyone would look. Wed see a guy drowning. Luckily, some people on the roof had a plan. They would throw an empty water gallon container to the drowning person who was being swept by the flood. It would serve as a floatation device since it was filled with air. Nice. It was interesting to watch the first few times. Eventually, I did not even bother to look at those who were drowning and needed help. Before it got dark, we saw rescuers on boats paddling real hard towards us! After a few minutes, they seemed to have moved just a meter. The current was against them. They could not get to us. Just before it got dark, a really bright light shined towards us. We thought they were rescuers. They were, but they could not rescue us. They just gave us light for the whole night. A few hours later, there was yet another commotion. There was finally a rescue vehicle capable of reaching us! They called it an amphibian I was surprised to see that the guy who said he was in the rescue unit of Valenzuela or something was there! He said hes come back! Too bad the amphibian was slow, and the order of priority of people to be rescued was: Senior Citizens>Pregnant women>Persons with disabilities>Children>Women>Men. It could accommodate maybe ten people per trip. I had to give up on waiting since it will take me hours to get to ride one. We spent the night lying down together with umbrellas covering our faces. At around 5am, the flood already subsided a lot, and was just about two feet high. We able to climb down and walk to the tricycle station. I got a ride, took a really long alternate route since the usual route was flooded, and finally got home! I spent 15 hours and 30 minutes on top of the roof. At the very least, I was able to spend the night sleeping beneath the dark skies, which was on my bucketlist. My uniform was black already. I took a warm bath twice, and used triple the shampoo, ate breakfast, and slept. When I got back to school, we had lots of stories to share. One of my female classmates had to take the same route home as my professor. They ended up getting stranded and spent the night together in a hotel. >:D Our professor asked some of us to tell our stories in front of the class. It was fun. :D I showed to my professor my book for her subject. It was originally already about 2.5 inches thick, but it became twice as thick after it got soaked in the flood. After our story time, our professor really apologized to us for what happened. That experience is impossible to forget. Remember! Whenever the weather is bad, just got to maypasokba :D I also miss my Robin. Grid! :D I hope someone bothers to read it all. XD Cryptographers, bite me! Ted misses Robin 2009 AMV College of Accountancy
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 13:35:17 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015