Tropical storm Ondoy

29 September 2009

In order to help a friend last Saturday I had to swim the flood waters in South Avenue in Quezon City. A friend from Pasig City texted me that his house was also flooded. A friend from Marikina could not go home that Saturday because his village was submerged in water, he was stranded in SM Marikina. My professor living in Northview informed me that they already stayed in the second floor, and that their next resort was to stay in the attic, but he's able to save his dogs.

Tropical storm Ondoy (international code name Ketsana) that hit the country on 26 September brought 85-100 kph of gustiness and 455 millimeters (or more than a month's amount) of rain in just 24 hours that caused flooding in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces of Rizal, Bulacan and Laguna. As of 29 September 240 (and counting) are killed because of the storm, 32 missing, and more than 300,000 displaced – many without food, drinking water and electricity for 3 days.

The affected areas are Metro Manila, Rizal, Laguna, Batangas, Cavite, Bulacan, Quezon, Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley. An estimate damage on infrastructure is P400M, and on agriculture is P820M. Worst hit area because of flooding is Metro Manila that up to 80 percent submerged in water on Saturday and Sunday. Thousands are displaced in Quezon City, Marikina, Cainta, Montalban and San Mateo. Landslide killed dozens in San Mateo.

The flood in Metro Manila was the worst in four decades and it spared neither rich nor poor. Many of the flooded areas are middle class villages like Provident in Marikina, Greenheights in Cainta and Northview in Quezon City. People stayed for hours on their rooftops to save their lives. Rescuers came late because of lack of rescue facilities and poor coordination of the Philippine Navy and the National Disaster Coordinating Council that is headed by the presidential aspirant and secretary of defense Gilbert Teodoro.

I volunteer with PHILRADS, a relief and rescue organisation that continue to accept donations such as food, clothes, canned goods, kichen utensils, blankets, mosqueto nets, and clean drinking water. You may call PHILRADS at 632-913-6615 or log on to pcec.org/philrads for more information.