It was my first time ever (in my entire life) to get stranded in the middle of chest-high flood waters. Yes, yesterday, my two sons (Sean, 8 and Andre, 4), my mother-in-law and I got stranded while we were inside Don Bosco Makati. My son had to go for his Taekwondo practice, as promotion is fast approaching. But then as with the rest of those who were outside their homes yesterday, maybe millions, we got stuck as the flood waters continue to get higher and higher and knowing Pasong Tamo, it was best to stay where we were. Testing the waters was really not an option.
It was really helpful that I'm an OC. Because I took with us some extra shirts and shorts for the kids, with each of us wearing a jacket and we had two umbrellas and some extra cash. Otherwise, I really didn't know what could have happened to us. The two kids seemed to be doing just fine at first but then as the rain continued to pour like it will never rain again they started to get anxious. They got worried coz the sky was so dark and it rained like hell for hours and hours. What's worse, my cell phone's battery was already empty and water already got in inside our house, I was told, and only one person was left at home.
Later that morning the power at Don Bosco went off. And the kids started to whine, they're scared and hungry and thirsty, they want to go to the rest room, they wanted to go home. It was almost 12:00 noon. And as we tried to make do with what the canteen can offer, we tried our best to make the kids and ourselves calm down. In the early afternoon, as we try to get to some place more comfortable than the basketball courts and the canteen, the power came back and we went to stay at the lobby where it's less cold and there were TVs that could entertain the kids. But we weren't entertained at all. Because the sight of the Marikina River overflowing and with many people in danger were really so alarming. We realized we were very lucky we're inside the wall of Don Bosco.
But later in the afternoon, I began to worry about where we would sleep, where my kids would sleep through the night. So I figured out a way for us to be more comfortable. My office is situated along Amorsolo. I figured out that if we could get out of Don Bosco through the side walk (we don't have a car), and walk through Pasay Rd. and go to Amorsolo, then that would be the better option for us. And so that's what we did. We gambled, we did fine in the side walk of Pasong Tamo outside Don Bosco and got to our destination. Back then, the rain was already pouring lightly but it was quite cold, it was 6 pm.
But we weren't really lucky because the power in our office was off. While all the buildings in that area still had electricity despite what happened, ours did not. It was because of the terrible amount of water that flooded the basement. I got even more stressed out. I knew that without power, our office room really is dark and hot. Again, I decided that we best check in a hotel. So we hopped in the first cab that we saw. We went to almost every hotel we know in Makati CBD. From the cheapest to the five-star ones. Thank goodness, all of them were already fully-booked. We tried to get home too, but our place is along Pasong Tamo near Vito Cruz extension, an area in Makati known to be flooded quite easily during rainy season. My hunch was right, even the last resort- the tricycles- were unable to get near our area, the water was really chest-deep. And so we attempted to try our luck in Pasay, there are a lot of hotels there. While on our way, we managed to drop by at Jollibee, we were already starving. But then the problem was how to get to Pasay quick because all roads are in deep traffic mess, again because of the flood, it was already 9:00 in the evening.
Finally, I decided we go back to Makati and tried one more round of hotel inquiry but again we failed. We went back to my office, we had no other choice than to make do with what is available, we asked help from the guards. They were very helpful and generous, they helped us with the candles. And we survived the night with no electricity, no air-con, with only a couch, several chairs and two candles.
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