I have just experienced one of the worst storms to ever strike the panay reigon... Basically, it began on friday. We were told it was just a signal no.1 storm that was approaching Iloilo (which basically means it won't be so harmful). Forward to saturday morning. I woke up at 6am and I was about to get my ass to school since we have our NSTP ****but then I looked out the living room door and saw that the gateway and streets were slowly starting to flood.
That's when I realized that this is ain't a signal.no1 storm. This is something bigger...! I stayed in the boarding house since it was the safest bet. The electricty was cut and then I said to myself "Holy **** This is gonna be one boring ass storm." As I was looking out the door, I saw the water slowly rising near the gate.
I called my mom and asked about the situation in Passi, she said that the people that lived by the river evacuated to the Auditorium and Passi Central Elementary School for refuge. Later that day, my brother passed by the house to get his stuff since he's staying over at his "friends" house.
(We all know where he went... (>_>))
This basically meant that I was gonna be left alone in the bedroom for the next 2 days... It really sucks being alone in your room with no one to talk to during a scary storm like this. I started reviewing my programming notes I kept when I was back in 2nd year highschool. Turns out I understand these notes more than before. I fell asleep at 12mn.
The next day comes. It's sunday. Still brownout. I tune into the radio and I hear that a couple of people have drowned to death from the storm, houses were swept away by the current of the water, people evacuated to the shopping malls, the bridge going to Passi was destroyed by the flood and some people even stayed on top of their roofs just to keep away from the flood. I started to realize how fortunate I am to have a roof...
I never knew that this storm would cause such devastation... I mean, I woke up on saturday hoping to go out clubbing and hit some drinks with my friend but then this storm came...
It's such an untimely thing. Who would have expected it to be No.3 when we were all informed that it was just no.1.
Since the rain sorta subsided, I decided to go to SM City since I was bored as heck in the house doing nothing and I heard that almost everyone ran to the mall to eat. As I was walking on the streets, I noticed that there were some cars that were abandoned (maybe cause of the flood yesterday) and the streets were filled with mud and only a few people were walking around with all their bags with their personal belongings... It was disturbing and surreal... I never knew it would be that devastating... It looked like Iloilo was struck by some post apocalyptic virus thing. Something you only see in the movies... xD
I rode a trycikad to SM which cost me 15p. I went in the mall and I was surprised to see the sheer amount of people roaming around. I decided to watch a movie to get my mind off the terrible things that have happened. I went and saw "Get Smart". It didn't really appeal to me and I felt a bit disappointed after watching the movie since it didn't really make me laugh.
That's pretty much what happened to me during the course of the storm. But after this storm, I started to feel better about my life. I started to realize how fortunate I am to be alive and I started to feel less dependant. I mean, it felt like solitary confinement but whatever. It didn't do anything to me. xD
Well, I just hope everything is gonna be alright now since the storm is over... My thoughts and prayers go out to the people that have suffered from the tragic storm... *Originally written on June 23rd 2008*