milenyo

= bagyo ng milenyo =

dark clouds were covering the entire city when cyclone Milenyo struck in Manila and other provinces last week.. it caused so much damage in the area even if there's not much rain.. it's the heavy blowing wind from Milenyo's mouth that devastated more than a thousand families and caused one-third of the archipelago to go black out..

i can't help but remember the time when a much stronger force had affected our area, specifically in Pangasinan last 1998. it was Typhoon Gading which had us dwell in a nearby school and reside for a week, due to the damage it caused on our barangay. i was still in college at that time (3rd year first sem) and had to go back home every day from school. i was not living in a boarding house at that time because i prefer the amenities and advantages of dwelling on a house, free of charge.

anyway, it was two hours before midnight when the electricity was cut off. everything was pitched black. but it was so cold! then we heard loud knocking at our door. it was my Lola Ely and Lolo Ador, with their two grandchildren, KC and Aaron. they said that water already entered their abode and they really had to evacuate because the storm was ready to pull off their roof. Our house, being a two-storey structure, was the closest & safest place they could go too, so they decided to take everything they could from their place, woke up my two little cousins then battled the strong current on their way to our house.

water hasn't reached our floor yet at that time, so i thought we're lucky to have a big house. we welcomed Lolo Ador and his family to our humble abode. moments later, my other Tita Virgie with her whole family, as well as their neighbor, Mang Pedring and his flock were already at our doorsteps, asking for help. of course, we accomodated them all since our we still had space for more.

soon, the rains stop and the winds began fading.. we thought we could all have a good night sleep despite the blackness surrounding us.

however, at past midnight, we begun hearing loud roars from the skies.. lightning struck everywhere, coupled with thunder. everyone was wide awake, waiting for the thunderstorm to pass.. but it didn't happen.

my mom and older cousin, Noli went down to our basement and then they discovered that water is already knee deep. they were then assisted by Lolo Ador and Tito Eddie (tita virgie's husband) and did everything to save some of our furnitures and appliances and moved to higher ground. while the oldies were down there, the kids upstairs were praying simultaneously asking God to stop the rains and heavy winds.. while, my sister and i were busy transferring some of our school items and all our clothes to two big travelling bags. we were anticipating flash flood in our area since it had been like that for years, so at least, i thought, now we are prepared.

soon, we heard a loud crack from somewhere.. i thought it came from outside, maybe a tree fell down somewhere.. but my sister asked me to look up and to our surprise, we saw half of our roof getting pulled out by the strong winds! i was crying already because i thought it would fell on me or on the children.. but it didn't.. instead, the heavy wind took it far away from us - maybe four houses away from us.. then we heard the crash...

BAMMMM!!!

Kuya Noli heard it so he immediately went upstairs and he helped me gather the kids to stay on the other side of the house where half of the roof was still standing strong against the wind. i got all our umbrellas and put them above our heads hoping not to get wet. Little KC (who was only 4 years old at that time) was coughing so hard and was shivering from the cold. i learned that she recently got sick so i did everything to keep her warm. my two younger siblings kept close watch on the other kids.

from outside, we could hear people screaming andother kids crying. i also thought i heard a motorboat passing by.. i looked out the window and there it was! a family was inside a motorboat, with all their belongings, going somewhere higher, i guessed. flood was everywhere that's why people are evacuating. i realized that our neighbor also have a motorboat which he had been keeping and using everytime there's flood in our area. i cried out for help by shouting aloud, asking if he could lend us his motorboat so we could evacuate too. then he shouted back that he needs to save his family first and that we had to wait for a while until he returned.

i told him, we would wait, as long as he will keep his promise. true enough, twenty minutes later, he came back and he helped my mom and the others ride in the boat. since we were four families at the house, he divided us into four groups and he went back four times in our house to save us all. luckily, there were no more rains and winds at the time that he was transferring us.

due to extreme exhaustion, everyone of us managed to sleep at once when we reached our school, the only high place that has not been reached by flood water and had not been affected by the heavy strong winds. i didn;t notice other families who were already there because i was too damn tired to look around. but i got up again an hour later because i heard another loud banging outside.. i looked up again and was glad to know that it was not the school roof. i looked out the window and there i saw the big narra tree getting uprooted. i told myself, maybe Typhoon Gading went back with revenge! i dare not sleep again, but i prayed so hard for Gading to go away..

it was the next day, when we all saw what Gading did to our barangay. it was not only our house who had no roof. but it was almost all of the houses in our area. uprooted trees were everywhere and the flood was already waist-deep. i called out for my mum but Kuya Noli said, she went back to our house, with Lolo Ador and Tito Eddie to see the damages. when they got back, we learned that we still have our half roof, but Lolo Ador's and Mang Pedring's house were swept away..

>>> now back to year 2006 <<<

after Typhoon Milenyo, many houses were damaged and lots of infrastractures were destroyed.. while i was watching the News Reports about the devastation that Milenyo caused, i couldn't help but cry and remember the past. i feel bad for the families who have lost their homes and even their loved ones. truly, you cannot contest the Force of Nature.. i just hope that these families will still have hope and cling to their Faith and will not forget God, so that everything else will be put back to place.