August 6, 2012

Flash Flood

verabear Environment, Ramblings and Brain farts 23 Comments

Looks like I’m skipping work today. I haven’t slept yet, can’t really sleep until the rain stops or the flood waters recede.

Yesterday I missed work because of the floods. I thought today would be different but it’s actually worse. The only good thing is that I didn’t have to wade through the flood today.

That there is my left slipper. It’s pair was claimed by the flood. I was sound asleep at 930PM last night when my mom shook me awake. The water was nearly at the gate. Both cars were still out there. Dad gave me the key to the RAV, he took the Civic’s. Outside it looked like the water was probably an inch away from getting inside my car. I waded through water that was probably a foot deep and got in through the passenger door of the Rav, losing my slipper in the process.

We got the vehicles to safety and then walked back home. I was barefoot. We were gone 10 minutes tops (not even) and already, the water level had risen significantly. I was wearing my favorite violet shirt and my striped Forever21 skirt. I put on one slipper, held an umbrella on one hand, and used the other to keep my balance. I followed Dad closely. I didn’t want to fall or step on anything, uhm, that I wasn’t supposed to step on. This is dirty flood water. Hello tetano and leptospirosis!

The deepest was maybe 3 feet high? I’m not good at measurements. I had to hike up my skirt. Soon as we got inside, I washed up, changed, and then used a LOT of my Human Nature Juicy Burst Sanitizer. And I kept spraying it on my legs through the night.

The people at the store next door were semi-apologetic about not sounding the alarm sooner. They too were taken by surprise. I guess it’s why these things are called flash floods. My cousin who lives nearest the road was also shocked.

As we drove home earlier tonight, we decided to leave the car on higher ground seeing that the creek is about to overflow again. Called my parents and told them about the situation. They were still at the supermarket. By the time they were ready to come home, the road was no longer passable.

The water is probably thigh-high inside my cousins’ units now. Last time water reached this level, it didn’t stop until water reached inside our house. That was during Ondoy. I hope this isn’t a repeat performance.

Water stopped rising in the past hour. But it also hasn’t subsided. The rain continues to pour. And Pag-asa predicts 2-3 more hours of rainfall.

The dogs are quiet now (not ours). Probably exhausted from running around, swimming, barking, and whining. Poor dogs. They’ve been enduring this since last night too. We can’t take them inside because they’re both wet, and too big for our house.

So that’s what’s happening right now.

The silver lining? We have electricity, water, cable, Internet. And we are still warm and dry. We are still luckier than other flood victims. I hope I can still say this a few hours from now.