Typhoon Nesat (Pedring): The Dancing Flood Halts our Fiesta!

By Arinze Onwuzulike, CSSp Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines Today is exactly two years after I was warmly welcomed to the Philippines by Typhoon Ondoy. Then I was barely 5 months in the Philippines. Given that Nigeria my country though with a tropical climate like the Philippines hardly experiences typhoon and its likes, the event of Typhoon Ondoy left me with the fate of one bestriding the regions of chance and providence. In retrospect now, my conviction assures me that providence took upper hand in offering me the saving experience that keeps me alive till this day. That typhoon of Sept 2009 with its torrential rainfall and flooding brought disaster of epic proportion in Marikina City, Metro-Manila especially the section of it where I reside. Nameless quantity of human lives, properties and infrastructure were either lost or badly destroyed. The closest description of it is what we are often served as menu in the movies we watch. Though I was among the fortunate ones untouched by the devastation, I cannot help being scared by the magnitude of its effect on the lives of people around me. Families were without homes and regular meals for months, businesses got shut down, schools were closed and turned into rescue camps, and the roads were filthy as a result of litters of garbage covered with mud. In fact the city life was brought to its lowest ebb. It was an experience none of us who went through it then prays not to re-live. You can then imagine how we started feeling again when Typhoon Nesat (Pedring is its local name) began to show its prowess in our Riverbanks environs. Only in the Philippines do the festoons that greet the Christmas fiesta make a total zoom off in September. Typhoon Nesats visit is thus a halting dance whose flooding tends to silence the gathering sound of the Christmas fiesta. It is reminiscent of its sibling, the Typhoon Ondoy that visited two years ago. The BBC has it that as many as 100,000 has been evacuated and about seven reported dead. Within our neighborhood however such news is not the case as at the time of this posting. But it is not all happy news either. Some homes are already flooded since the river near us (hence Riverbanks as our environs) is already swollen far beyond its limits. It is almost eclipsing the major bridge (part of Marcos Highway) that passes across it. We are therefore not taking chances. While under the shelter of our umbrellas, our backpacks are already stuffed with few necessaries, ready for possible evacuation. It is only trees in the forest that sense danger and choose to stay where they are. The video and pictures tell the rest of the story. Kindly keep praying for us! Typhoon Nesat (Pedring): The Dancing Flood Halts our Fiesta! Today is exactly two years after I was warmly welcomed to the Philippines by Typhoon Ondoy. Then I was barely 5 months in the Philippines. Given that Nigeria

my country though with a tropical climate like the Philippines hardly experiences typhoon and its likes, the event of Typhoon Ondoy left me with the fate of one bestriding the regions of chance and providence. In retrospect now, my conviction assures me that providence took upper hand in offering the saving experience that keeps me alive till this day. That typhoon of Sept 2009 with its torrential rainfall and flooding brought disaster of epic proportion in Marikina City, Metro-Manila especially the section of it where I reside. Nameless quantity of human lives, properties and infrastructure were either lost or badly destroyed. The closest description of it is what we are often served as menu in the movies we watch. Though I was among the fortunate ones untouched by the devastation, I cannot help being scared by the magnitude of its effect on the lives of people around me. Families were without homes and regular meals for months, businesses got shut down, schools were closed and turned into rescue camps, and the roads were filthy as a result of litters of garbage covered with mud. In fact the city life was brought to its lowest ebb. It was an experience none of us who went through it then prays to re-live. You can then imagine how we started feeling again when Typhoon Nesat (Pedring is its local name) began to show its prowess in our Riverbanks environs. Only in the Philippines do the festoons that greet the Christmas fiesta make a total zoom off in September. Typhoon Nesats visit is thus a halting dance whose flooding tends to silence the gathering sound of the Christmas fiesta. It is reminiscent of its sibling, the Typhoon Ondoy that visited two years ago. The BBC has it that as many as 100,000 has been evacuated and about seven reported dead. Within our neighborhood however, such news is not the case as at the time of this posting. But it is not all happy news either. Some homes are already flooded since the river near us (hence Riverbanks as our environs) is already swollen far beyond its limits. It is almost eclipsing the major bridge (part of Marcos Highway) that passes across it. We are therefore not taking chances. While under the shelter of our umbrellas, our backpacks are already stuffed with few necessaries, ready for possible evacuation. It is only trees in the forest that sense danger and choose to stay where they are. The video and pictures tell the rest of the story. Kindly keep praying for us!