Ondoy

It was supposed to be a weekend of fun and excitement, friends will be coming over from Philippines and Australia to watch the 2009 Singapore Formula 1 Night Race. But one Saturday afternoon, in the middle of our festivity, I've been getting text messages from my mother that the rain was non-stop for almost 10 hours and floods were pouring in some urban areas. I logged in to my facebook from Don's mac and I was really shocked when I saw the pictures of flooded areas from Araneta and Katipunan Avenues, cars floating like paper boats and the news that actress, Cristine Reyes was on top of the roof waiting to be rescued 'coz her house was, literally, in deep water. Here are some photos taken during Ondoy's suprised visit to the Philippines courtesy of Jr Lo from Facebook:

Araneta Avenue

Katipunan Avenue


Actress Cristine Reyes on top of the roof waiting to be rescued

Ayala Underpass

The following day, Sunday, more and more pictures and videos were posted on the internet showing what Ondoy did to the metropolis, specifically in Pasig, Marikina and Cainta areas and only one word could describe it: FLOOD!

What really happened?

While browsing the photos, reading the news... I just couldn't believe that this has happened. Yes, flood is a common problem in the Philippines even without rain, but this one brought something that used to be unthinkable. Numerous houses were submerged in water from slum areas to posh villages.... walang pinili...

photos grabbed from the net from Anonymous uploader/s

As to date, the count of fatalities is at 277 and more than 40 are missing.

What's next?

And as expected, the Bayanihan spirit was all over the place again, which will be discussed in my next entry.