Thank You

I couldn’t thank you enough for all your greetings, comments and prayers. They have somehow lifted me up.

Special thanks goes to Elizabeth who wrote about our plight here. Unfortunately, I haven’t read her post yet.

Just to give you an idea of the flood that reached our place, I took shot of it from the second floor window of our neighbor where we transferred.

That’s our house with the red roof, it is a corner lot. I couldn’t take a full shot of it but this is on the left side of the house. The water here on the two intersecting streets were about knee-high (it has subsided a little). When typhoon Ondoy struck eleven years ago, it has reached that level of our high fence in the corner. Inside it is our grotto and small pond.

Again I wish to extend my thanks to all of you. Sorry if I missed answering your comments.

P.S.

Sorry about the missing photo, I could see it here. I re-posted it a while ago. Thanks!

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Waiting For The Storm To Pass (2)

Josef and I left the house early to attend the morning mass at Our Lady of Light Parish. Today is the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Praying hard there won’t be floods in the metro. We decided to leave the car in the church grounds since it is higher there compared to our place.  There was a drizzle and it was cloudy.  We are blessed that at least for now, typhoon Ruby was downgraded to tropical storm although our area is still under the threat of heavy rains and winds when Ruby makes its fourth  (and hopefully its final) landfall this evening in  Laiya, Batangas. The latter is south of Metro Manila and we are still under storm signal number 2.

You know that feeling of anticipating the worst but still hoping for the best, meaning, this typhoon which has been here for almost a week now  must be  tired of  hopping from one province to another  playing a game of “step no, step yes” choosing  when and where she would land next. Isn’t it about time that it leaves for good? It is so slow though at 10 kph with a gustiness of 135 kph. We would like to celebrate Christmas without more threats of rains and storms and bad weather. I am allergic to it.

Hope to see the sun’s face again tomorrow. I miss the blue sky and the  white fluffy  clouds up there. Since I could not dance in the rain, I’ll just wait  for the storm to pass.

Be safe everyone!

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Where Did September Go?

Allow me to greet you another “happy new month”. It’s now October, and it’s my birth month.   September is gone now leaving behind people who lost their homes, properties destroyed, lives lost, floods, and places which are still inundated by the rising waters caused by typhoon Pedring.  We are a country where we experience heavy flooding every year, where  more than twenty strong typhoons  visit  us everywhere in the archipelago but despite the knowledge that we are prone to such calamities, we still get caught in the middle, protecting our properties sometimes more than we protect our lives. Despite the danger, we stand up and face the storms. You might ask, where are we coming from? We are resilient amidst dangers brought by nature’s wrath. Sometimes, it really falls heavy on our shoulders but we take it as if it is our due, as if we are destined to experience such.

I was glued to the news reports on typhoon  Pedring which has just left our country two days ago and typhoon Quiel which is presently dumping heavy rains and gusty winds in Northern Luzon, the same path that typhoon Pedring traversed. My heart breaks seeing those houses blown by the strong winds  and those who are still awaiting rescue in some towns in Bulacan where the flood waters have reached the second level of their homes.  It reminds  me of the ordeal we had with typhoon Ondoy two years ago. It is so easy to say,” evacuate the place , go to safer grounds” but when you are in such a predicament, you try to save as much of your possessions from the floods because you know that after the storm, it would be hard, so really hard to start all over again. It is so  easy to empathize  when you are just watching it on your TV screens in the comfort of your homes with enough food on your plate.  What about those whose houses were destroyed in a blink of an eye and all that are left are soiled clothing and a scattering of a few possessions which can no longer be used? What about those who are on their rooftops  because they have nowhere else to go, no cover on their backs despite the cold?

Despite all the setbacks, we carry on. Circumstances may push us to the limits sometimes but our faith in a loving God will always be our anchor in times like this. Prayers help and praying for each other’s safety is the best recourse we can make.  Just think that the sun always shine after the rain.

And it’s 84 days to go before Christmas! That’s really something we could all look forward to.

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Can’t Blog Tonight

My heart goes to those “kababayans” in Bulacan who are affected by the flood reaching as high as their second floor rooftop.

Let us just say a prayer or two for their safety. And I am sorry, I really can’t blog tonight because I am glued to the news on tv.

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It Was A Day of Heavy Rains And Gusty Winds

Typhoon Pedring was definitely stronger than I thought.  It brought strong winds to the island of Luzon and toppled power lines which left close to 2 million households without electricity. Train lines in Metro Manila suspended their operations because of the typhoon.  We were so lucky that our town was spared from the flash flood which affected most areas in Metro Manila. Part of Bulacan and Marikina were submerged in water. And I am grateful that there was no interruption in the power service of Manila Electric Company in our area. Classes were suspended in all levels of Metro Manila. Metro Manila was under typhoon signal number two but it was not spared from heavy rains and gusty winds brought about by typhoon Pedring (international name is Nesat).

The whole day, I alternately listened on our transistor radio and watched the news on TV. One should  always be  alert in times like this.  I remember the time when typhoon Ondoy hit Metro Manila exactly two years  ago. Our house was submerged in water and we had to renovate and replace most of our furnitures and belongings because they were destroyed by the flood. It makes me feel so insecure every time there is a strong typhoon coming.

Front of U.S. Embassy along Roxas Blvd.

The seawall along Roxas Blvd.

(I don’t own these pictures, they are property of allvoices.com. Photos by Marven Dumaguet)

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