Flood in Manila: Drama, Filipino Style

Alhamdulallah, my wife Aishah and I survived the typhoon and massive flooding in Manila.  At 9:30 am Saturday, it was raining moderately, which is normal for the Philippines. By 11:30 am, however, the area around my office was flooded at least waist-high.  Aishah called me as she had been on her way home from her job.  She was in a bus when the typhoon hit, and the bus was stopped in the middle of a bridge. 

By 2:00 pm, the water was easily six feet deep, and most people had already abandoned the mall where my office is located, although the mall was built high from the street specifically because of the likeliness of flood conditions.  I had already learned that the area near my apartment was flooded and impassable, so I decided that it was better to stay at my office.  I was warm and dry and decided not to risk getting into the dangerous flood waters and possibly not making it home.  At 3:00 pm, the power went out.  The power had been manually shut down to prevent electrocutions and fires.

Some people at the mall paid ridiculous prices to be floated away on rubber boats.  Some of the "boats" were really only inflated air bed mattresses. I chose to wait until the water was below waist level.  As a humanitarian relief during the Katrina disaster, I learned that terrible, life-threatening diseases can come from wading in flood water that is above waist level.  It is better to stay put unless one's life is in danger.

Aishah kept texting me from the bridge where her bus was stopped.  She said that some snacks were passed around, and the passengers settled in for the night since the rain showed no sign of stopping.  By 9:00 pm, the rain finally did stop.  Aishah and I texted back and forth for a while longer until around midnight when I fell asleep across a set of chairs in my office.  I felt guilty that I was dry and warm and had access to clean, drinking water and running water in the bathrooms of the mall.  Aishah was stuck for fifteen hours, not only in a dangerous situation on a bridge, but also with minimal food and no clean water.  At least we, as Muslims, are accustomed to fasting.

Sometime around 4:00 am, I realized that cell phone service had been interrupted.  In fact, none of the cell phone carriers were working.

Aishah was able to get home around 7:00 am.  The bus was able to ford through the floodwaters and take Aishah safely near our home.  She waded home in minimal water.

At 7:30 am, the flood water on the side street was finally below waist level, and I prepared for the long walk. Most of the way, I was in knee-deep water or less since I had waited.  The worst part of my walk was that I had to walk barefoot.  I had worn my suede shoes, and they would have been permanently destroyed if I'd worn them in the flood water. Another bad part was having to dodge floating rat carcasses.  Ew!  I ended up getting home at 8:30 am and hugged Aishah for a long, long time.

We were both very hungry.  With no power or running water in the apartment, we had to make do.  The 7-11 store provided some chips and cool water and orange juice.  Later, Wendy's opened the grill since they run on gas, and we munched some burgers.

Power was finally restored between 1:00 and 2:00 am on Sunday, and cell service came on immediately with it. We were still without water, so we ate very little until 11:00 am on Monday when water was restored.  We took turns spending a lot of time in the shower, scrubbing off all the filth from the flood water and days of not bathing.

There is more to my story.  Saturday evening we were supposed to meet in SM Sta Mesa where there is a clinic.   Aishah needed to get some tests concerning some medical issues.  A doctor had speculated that she may have some thyroid problems.  Before making the trip, I decided to cook Aishah a good meal.  I started cooking rice to go with laing (a mixture of taro leaves, coconut milk, and chili peppers).  While the rice cooked, I got us some snacks to munch. 

We got to the clinic later, and tests revealed a growth inside Aishah's delicate body.  The growth was about the size of a golf ball. On one side of the “golf ball” was a spot, which was measured at 6.2 mm. The spot had a heartbeat!  I should have known something was up when, earlier in the afternoon, Aishah sat on the bed with a chocolate-glazed doughnut in one hand and a Banana-Q in the other hand and saying, "I want chicken."  The doctor estimates that Aishah is six weeks pregnant.  Should we name the baby after the typhoon?