Metro Manila has never seen a typhoon like it. In fact, I think that it is the first time that Metro Manila was declared in a State of Calamity. Whether this is true or not, this is undoubtedly the worst floods that Manila has ever seen. The floodwaters did not choose whom to hit or where to go. Rich or poor, everyone was affected. The news and pictures are really very grim.
We know that Metro Manila places like Malabon, Marikina, Pasay City and Cainta, normally get flooded... but not like this! Water covered the first floors and in some areas, even the second floors of houses! And places that were never before flooded, like the likes of Katipunan Avenue, Ayala Avenue, Eastwood, Green-hills, Magallanes Village, the Valle Verde Villages, Green-meadows, Xavierville, Kamias, Loyola, Aurora Boulevard and many more were under waist and even chest deep of water.
Camp Aguinaldo from air looked like a big lake. Buses and cars in EDSA near Connecticut Street, Green hills were submerged in flood water. How can these things happen?
People were on their roofs just to keep from drowning. Men were tightrope walking in the electrical and telephone lines on top of the Meralco posts! People were stranded in the streets, inside their cars, in malls, in train stations! Everything was so sudden. The worst hit seem to be those families who were at their homes on a rainy Saturday near the Marikina and Pasig Rivers, they were really devastated. It was so heart breaking!
As I watched the news, I saw how people lost their loved ones and their homes. I heard how the rescue workers were overwhelmed. They said that they have never seen anything like it. According to the weathermen, the amount of rainfall that normally falls in a month during rainy season in Metro Manila, fell in the span of six hours!
That was why the flood came without warning. But now, there are reports that the main cause of the devastation is someone’s error or wrong decision (thinking it will save one area but without thinking or expecting the damage it could do to other parts of the country). These unverified reports point out that someone decided to release water from the La Mesa and Angat Dams without warning and in a short time that brought about the suddenness of the rising of the floodwaters. But now is not the time for finger pointing, now is the time to help. This newspaper will inform all of you on how to help our countrymen affected by the wrath of Typhoon Ondoy. Your help is greatly needed. Everything is needed and appreciated, whether this be goods, money or just prayers. Look at these pictures on other pages so you will fully see and understand the Wrath of Typhoon Ondoy.
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