First Flood in the Philippines

It's not unknown to many that since last Monday, the whole of Metro Manila has been experiencing continuous rainfall and so many low areas are flooded. That included the city of Pasig. As balikbayans, this is my family's first flood experience.

Behind our house is a creek, we don't have any second floor and so last Monday midnight, we decided to leave our house and stay with my in-laws because the creek will be overflowing soon. My children and I went there to stay. My husband stayed behind to take care of our things - elevate them so they wouldn't get wet. I wished I could stay and help him but my 2 daughters, Janel and Angel, then were sick and I had to take care of them. His sister's husband stayed and helped him. Thank God!

To continue with our story, we stayed with our in-laws. My children seemed to be so happy not minding the situation ... there were no classes and they get to play with all their cousins. I thank God because Angel got well on Tuesday but Janel was still having high fever. I kept praying that God would heal her soon. Praise God, she's well on Wednesday. Though, they're having some cough and colds now.

Back to talking about the flood, the flood inside our house is up to the thigh. I can't imagine how all our things look like now. Over here in our in-laws, though the flood has not yet entered the house, we can see from the second floor window the flood in the streets up to the waist.

Flood in our street, not our house - Thanks to Rowena for the photo

The water is so dirty with all sorts of garbage flowing (who can collect the garbage?) and yet people are still so happy swimming, others are disgusted but what can they do about it? There's a different mode of transportation here now that there's water everywhere. Just look at the different kinds of boats that people use ...

Bangkang Yero - Improvised boat made with yero (roof steel) and wood

Balsang Saging - Boat using banana stem as floaters

Baranggay Rescue Boat

P20 per head to palengke, P30 to municipal hall & P50 to simbahan 

Baby is enjoying his ride

Drinking water please ...

The fare to these boat rides range from P20 to P50 per head. There was even a time when the boat was scarce that the fare was P200 per head. I haven't tried walking in the flood (except when it was just starting to) nor have I ridden a boat. But I have a feeling that sooner or later, I would have to. They say that the flood water here takes up to 1 month before drying up. Hu hu hu.

In spite of everything, there still much to thank God for. I know from watching the news that there are a lot more people who have suffered much more than us. Today, the sun shone brightly and some of the folks got their relief goods.  Thank You, Lord.

Relief goods

I wasn't able to do much online work or blog hopping lately because of what happened. I don't have regular internet connection, though I can try and explore other options. Using broadband now.