IN the wee hours of July 24, a damp Wednesday, residents of Marikina City were awakened from a deep slumber by the harrowing downpour–but oh, this looked all too familiar.
My wife, Inee Martinez-Jugado, couldn’t sleep that night. “I can’t sleep, I’m afraid,” she repeatedly said, her voice cracking, nearly weeping.
She was born and raised in Marikina and suffered from the wrath of tropical storm “Ondoy” 15 years ago when she just a college freshman. Inee’s family survived Ondoy but endured a recurring trauma.
Frightening memories of Ondoy such as the non-stop rains that caused massive flooding, power outages, collapsed buildings, establishments, houses, and 70 people perished in the “Shoe Capital of the Philippines” alone–and at least 464 in Metro Manila–came back so vividly that it felt like it was just yesterday.
With all my might, I assured her we were safe since we lived in a flood-free village in Antipolo City. That only proved to be the calm before the storm–literally and figuratively.
According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), “Carina” (international name Gaemi) got to super typhoon status and enhanced the southwest monsoon before making landfall in Taiwan while inundating the Metropolis from Marikina, Quezon City, Caloocan, Taguig, Muntinlupa, Pasay, Malabon, Navotas, Pasig, and the nation’s capital, Manila.
The water level of the Marikina River reached a staggering 20.7 meters late Wednesday afternoon, prompting a forced evacuation.
In comparison, the Marikina River rose to 21.5 meters during Ondoy and 21.8 meters during typhoon Ulysses, which hit the city in late 2020 at the peak of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic
Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. last Wednesday placed Metro Manila and nearby provinces such as Bulacan, Bataan, Batangas, and Cavite under a state of calamity because of massive flooding caused by heavy rains in the past days.
Bataan and Pampanga were also affected by Carina.
Rainfall data from PAGASA also showed Carina dumped more rain in Quezon City than Ondoy on September 26, 2009.
Between 2 a.m. Wednesday and 2 a.m. Thursday, 461.4 millimeters of rain was tallied in Science Garden station–almost a month’s worth of rain in July in the area.
Ondoy’s recorded 24-hour rainfall was 455 mm, with 341.3 mm measured in just a six-hour span.
Marikina and the CAMANAVA (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela) were hardest hit by this latest natural disaster that struck the country.
We believe that despite the sad tales of Marikeños anew, they have taken lessons from Ondoy to heart.
Marikina was prepared better this time compared to when Ondoy and typhoon Ulysses battered the city.
With outgoing Mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro calling the shots, dredging projects and de-clogging of drainages are just some of the projects being taken to address Marikina’s perennial flooding woes.
The city’s vaunted Rescue 161, along with rescue teams from the barangays, were on their toes during the calamity although there were reports that authorities were hours late in conducting rescue missions in some barangays.
Teodoro’s wife, Marjorie Ann “Maan,” and incumbent second district Rep. Stella Quimbo loom likely as candidates for Marikina’s mayoral post in next year’s midterm elections, making relief operations come in handy for their affected constituents.
We went yesterday to San Roque Elementary School where Inee has worked for nine years as a Grade 5 teacher. It serves as an evacuation center for families displaced by the super typhoon.
Only a few “bakwit” were left, and we asked some of them.
“We’re okay, ma’am. We also experienced Ondoy and the situation here is better.”
I held Inee’s hand and walked out of the four corners of the classroom relieved.
But above all, let’s not forget that the so-called “Filipino resiliency” should not be used as the excuse for disasters.
Accountability and preparedness should be tantamount to the votes our leaders get from us.
“Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s alright
Little darlin’, it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter
Little darlin’, it feels like years since it’s been here.”
