Oh. My. Guard.
I just got home after more than an hour on the road. Not so bad, unlike many unfortunate others, who are still probably stuck on the road, but this is incredible given that I live about 5 minutes away from work. I get ahead of myself.
When I left the house around 5:30 this morning, it was raining, but I had no idea we were on the precipice of the worst storm to hit Metro Manila in so many years. Since I started as a DJ 19 years ago, this is only the 2nd time that I was stranded at RX. The first was way back, when the problem was more of the strong winds than the rains. When I finally decided to brave it, as I waited for the traffic light to go green along Ortigas going towards Rosario, the lamp post right beside my car suddenly snapped, crackled, and finally popped! There was a bright flash of light, a sizzling sound, and finally an explosion of electricity and sparks! There were sparks spraying on the hood of my car as the succeeding posts also started exploding. I was so scared I almost peed in my pants.(I know, TMI).
This time, We were having so much fun with the Rushers because they were coincidentally having an EB at the station. When the rain wouldn’t stop, we realized we were stranded. We waited it out. The show ended at 9am, but we didn’t attempt to leave until about past 1pm, when the rains seemed to let up a bit. Boy were we wrong. Most of my routes going home (which, like I said, is usually a mere 5-minute drive) were impassable due to high waters. I know, because I could see multiple cars stuck in the middle of the floodwater, like islands in the stream. Finally, the sole route that was available to me was clogged with cars. I spent an hour idling on an approximately 250 meter stretch. It didn’t help that I was listening to an AM station as they rattled off the places where the people were on their roofs awaiting rescue. The WORST storm in recent memory. I’m suddenly glad to be safe home. My heart goes out to the people still stuck all over Luzon.
As if my ordeal wasn’t enough, I actually set off again after 30 minutes to go to Eastwood to feed my cats. Turns out there are chest-high floodwater along C5. We turned back way before we hit C5. The cars were piling up and we took that as a sign to head back home.
What about you guys? Hope you’re okay. Any horror stories of your own?