The Wrath of Ketsana

Typhoons, heavy floods and strong rains aren't really rare occurrences in the Philippines. But when Ketsana struck, we're told that these things shouldn't be taken too lightly.

The rain was unusually hard today. It’s as if a huge pipe up there in Heaven was having a serious leakage problem. I looked out my window and frowned. I could barely make out anything outside. Sheets and sheets of rain were all I could see.

 

I shrugged to myself. Well…rains like this weren’t so uncommon in the Philippines. Areas would soon get flooded and those floods would soon subside in a few hours. Nothing to worry about, really.

 

What’s been bugging me more was the fact that my Internet connection’s getting faultier by the minute. Ugh. It disconnects and reconnects, and it’s really starting to get on my nerves. Then again, if I called PLDT, all they’d say is that it was because of the bad weather that the connection’s like this. They wouldn’t do anything about it. Their landline monopoly has become so intense that they don’t bother improving their services. Yep, that’s life here.

 

Two hours later and the rain still hadn’t stopped. If anything, it got worse. My Internet connection hadn’t improved, and my friends have been tweeting about how horrible the rain’s becoming…and my Country Story game can’t load properly.

 

Another hour later and I heard a lot of commotion downstairs. What’s going on? I thought, frowning and finally getting a tad worried. I got up from my chair and went out of my room to see the house help lugging some stuff up.

 

“What’s happening?” I asked one of the maids, helping her as she struggled with a pile of plates.

 

“Water’s getting in downstairs,” she replied, “so we have to bring as much stuff up from downstairs as we can.”

 

“What?” I gaped in disbelief. “You gotta be kidding me! We’ve never experienced a flood before!”

 

“That’s what I thought, too,” the maid replied.

 

And because there was no one else but my brother in the house, I had no choice but to help. I ran downstairs to see what I could find, and when I got there the words were taken right out of my mouth. The maids were right. It was getting flooded downstairs; the water was reaching up to my ankles. I looked around for anything I could carry…and saw the microwave. Oh s**t.

 

I strode through the water as fast as I could, unplugged the microwave and wrapped both my arms around it, carrying it to the stairs. Damn, it was heavy.

 

And all of a sudden the lights were out.

 

“S**t!” I cursed under my breath, remembering that I’d left my computer on.

 

“Kristy! Kristy, where are you?” my big brother Gerry’s voice called from upstairs.

 

“I’m here! Carrying the microwave!” I replied, sloshing through the rising flood. The water was past my ankles now. I coiled the microwave’s wire around my hand.

 

In an instant my brother was right in front of me, helping me with the microwave.

 

“Oh my God,” he breathed. “This is unreal.”

 

“I know,” I said as we both climbed up the stairs sideways.

 

When we finally got the microwave safely up, my brother and I went back down to help get more stuff upstairs. Worriedly, I asked, “Gerry, when do you think Mom and Dad are coming home?”

 

“I don’t know, Kristy. Let’s just hope they won’t get stranded somewhere.”

 

Before long the water was just below our knees, and it gripped me with a fear unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Our house had never gotten flooded. It’s stood through the craziest of typhoons, the most insane of floods. And now this. Words failed me at this very moment. Outside, the rain was relentless. The typhoon was getting angrier every passing second.

 

When the water reached our waists, the maids told us to stay upstairs and let them do the rest of the work.

 

“But there are still so many things…” Gerry protested, but they shook their heads.

 

“It’s best that you guys keep safe. Stay upstairs. We’ll take care of it,” one of them said, and we had no choice but to obey. After all, our parents would freak out if anything happened to either of us.

 

Grudgingly we went to my room. It was so hot there, more so since the power was out. The sky was as dark as it would’ve been on a late afternoon.

 

We were silent. We couldn’t say anything. All I could do was get a canister of Pringles that I kept in my room, and we ate it together. There we were for the next hour, until…

 

“Oh my God.” Gerry shot up from bed.

 

“What?” I asked.

 

“Kristy, get your clothes.”

 

“What? Why? What’s going on?” My voice raised a pitch, irritated.

 

“Look!” Gerry pointed, and I saw water creeping into my room, from under the door.

 

“S**t!” I screamed the word aloud, not caring if anyone heard me. Gerry ran out of my room to take care of his stuff while I started gathering mine.

 

Oh God, oh God… My heart pounded in my ears, drowning out the sound of the furious typhoon outside.

 

“Kristy!” one of the maids arrived in my room. “Here.” She had three large black garbage bags with her. “Put your clothes in these. We don’t have much time.”

 

I frantically emptied my closet, throwing everything inside, and even most of the things in my room, I put it in the garbage bags. By the time my room was almost empty, my toes have been submerged in water. I deliberately ignored my computer standing in my room, knowing that I might not be able to save it.

 

“Kristy! Are you done? Come on!” Gerry called from the other end of the hall, and I went off, with the maid behind me, carrying two out of the three garbage bags.

 

Eventually the maids led us up to the veranda where the rain pelted right down on us. This was the only place that wasn’t flooded, and the only place where we can sit. But that wasn’t what shocked me.

 

It was the view outside.

 

Deep, brown waters thrashed here and there, and some of our neighbors weren’t on their verandas—they were on the rooftops. I saw an old man in a wheelchair up on the roof from the house not so far away from ours, and I shuddered. Oh God. What’s happening to us?

 

Gerry was calmer. He set his three garbage bags on a corner of the veranda, sat down, leaned against them and watched the scene outside, his face expressionless. But I knew that he had already resigned himself to the inevitable. He was brave that way.

 

Eventually the maids managed to keep most of the things in a more secure room in the house, and they went out to the veranda themselves.

 

For the next two hours, we just sat there…and watched as destruction unfolded before us, inspiring in us a feeling of utter powerlessness.

 

Nature has seriously punished us this time around.

Author's Note

This short story is dedicated to the victims of Typhoon Ketsana, known as Typhoon Ondoy here in the Philippines. Copy and paste the link to see how it struck the country: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_zXQhuvd6s)

Any kind of help will be greatly appreciated. Until now, there are still people who have not been rescued, and who have not eaten in days. Thank you for allowing yourselves to be aware of this situation.

Reviews

[DearWorld]

This was a very good piece. The only thing that bothered me was that you sometimes repeated yourself, but I really did like this! Great writing! XD

[RAWR!]

i think this was a interesting piece.
it says alot about you as a writer.
i like the fact its nonfiction/based on a true story
i think you could be more descriptive though,
how did the veranda look like, how was the feeling of utter powerlessness. but be careful of over doing it. describing too much is annoying.
sorry my reviews are not very constructive, enjoyed the piece, and mind you i have adhd, so i hardly ever read stories on writerscafe, and almost never read them all the way.
so it was interesting, thanks for sharing dude.

[Denni]

wow this was very well written! i really like this. its going in my favorites!

[Tate Morgan]

Scarlet what a dream of a girl I wish i could say I am qualified to rate this .As with most poets i am not good at stories .I suffer attention defacite at time s and cant follow without rhyme and meter .It is beautiful It tells me what6 happens in your mind on your playground .Thank you for inviting me to play there with you .
Tate

[Anthony]

Great work. Very gripping. Excellent description. Overall great job.

[Rima]

Nice description, the story flows and I like it... Nature can be beautiful and terrifying, and we cannot do anything to stop it
Overall great job
Keep on writing!!