The day started like any other day. I woke up at around lunchtime, put on my computer and checked my facebook and livejournal. It had been raining the whole night so when the electricity started to fluctuate, I wasn’t really surprised. Just a little disappointed because I had planned to spend the day making livejournal icons (my recent obsession). After a while, it seemed like the electricity wasn’t going back so I told my sister we might as well eat.
I had just finished my first plate of spaghetti when I felt that the floor was wet. I commented on it and we looked up to see water rushing through the kitchen floor. Our housekeeper went in saying that she couldn’t stop the canal outside from overflowing. The water now reached the living room. I immediately went to save my CD collection that was on one of the bottom shelves and some important documents also on bottom shelves. The last time it flooded in the house, I was a kid and barely remember it. So I didn’t really think it would be bad. I placed the stuff on the stairs for the meantime. Sometime during, after, before, I forget, the electricity came back. We were joking that Meralco had such bad timing. I spent a couple of minutes unplugging stuff but the water just kept on rising. It was obvious we had to move the stuff from the stairs into higher ground.
We began with the stuff at the bottom. Tisha’s precious rom-com VCD collection, my love stories and romance novel keeper shelf. We started saving electronics, the DVD players, etc… The water was rising to knee-deep. I didn’t think it would get higher and I spent a few moments hovering but my sister told me to start saving my computer stuff so I did. I underestimated the flood that by the time I thought of my original DVD collection they were slightly wet. It was the only second I panicked but I told myself that these things could be bought again, if somewhat expensive. Then it was time to save the books.
For those who’ve seen the house, I have 4 bookshelves filled with books. I told my sister she should save what she could of hers first then help me with mine. The housekeeper started saving the paintings. By this time, the water was around hip high and the sofas were floating. I knew carrying all the books so I grabbed one, put as many books as I could on it and pushed the sofa towards the stairs where the housekeeper would help bring them upstairs. Some books still got wet in the journey but as long as I got them to higher ground, I didn’t care. By the time I saved all my books, the water was chest high. I remembered my Neil Gaiman signed notebook I had in the drawer of the cabinet under the stairs. I managed to pry the drawer away, getting tangled in some wires. I handed the drawer to the housekeeper and untangled myself. I remembered the other piano pieces I had in another drawer which was now under water. I decided to leave it behind. I was really really tempted to play the piano one last time (for cinematic value, you know, haha) but I also really really wanted a bath. I decided on the bath. When I finally went upstairs, it was just 3pm and the house looked like this:
The next few hours were spend praying, wishing that the rain would stop and the flood would stop rising. If it reached the 2nd floor, we’d have nowhere to go. But when God floods the first floor of your house, and traps you on the 2nd floor, he also opens a window. Of course, you’d have to jump out of said window and swim to the roof. I’m not a good swimmer but I knew I could do it if it came to that. We started tying bedsheets together just in case. I kept thinking, if I say that my crisis of faith is over, if I say I truly believed now, would the rain just stop? It didn’t. A friend texted to ask if I could record her score over the weekend. I replied that I planned to but my piano was now underwater and I didn’t know the damage. Could I just survive this day first? I remembered another friend who lived fairly close in an area that always floods. He was still on his way home from Makati. The water was neck deep. He asked if we wanted him to come and help. I told him not to because the water was too high. And still rising.
At around 5pm we started to move the electronics into higher ground. We moved all the junk out of the storage space on top of cabinets and put all the important stuff there instead. I packed the most expensive books into a bag and put it up with my computer. Then I had to decide which other books I would “save.” Graphic novels went first, of course, and then most of my fairy tale collection. Then I thought, whatever, and just stacked whatever books I could.
By nighttime, water was still slowly crawling up the stairs but I was thankful that it started flooding during daylight else we wouldn’t have been able to save much. I was also thankful that our housekeeper saved that bottle of Coke because I really really needed a glass (and thanks Tish for taking a picture while my mouth was full of leftover spaghetti. haha.)
Finally, the water stopped rising. Only 3 steps were left to the 2nd floor. It was still raining though. Worse case would be if the flood water didn’t subside and we’d be trapped upstairs for a while with just Koko Krunch and Reese’s Pieces for food (it was probably the easiest stuff to grab, haha) But there was nothing left to do really but wait and maybe sleep.
It was 2am when I heard people starting their cars outside. I couldn’t go to sleep so I went down to see the damage.
Tisha’s bedroom and the study room were hit the hardest. The doors were wedged closed, I had to squeeze in and move some furniture to get inside.
I spent Sunday afternoon mopping the floor while singing Disney, Broadway, Jazz, whatever I could remember. Which is why I now have a sore throat. But you know what? Things could have been worse and they weren’t.
I’m going to write about the piano now. sniff sniff.
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