We've Evacuated & Now Can Only Wait

August 7, 2012

12am-Woke up to a text from Chelsea: “Pack up your evacuation bag and be ready”
3am- Text from Fe: “How is the water at your house?”  There was no flooding around my house or on the street in front at this time.
4am- Mateo (my host father) knocks on my bedroom door because Fe (my LCF) was rounding us up.
Chelsea, Chris, Kathryn & I loaded into the van.  Called Hunter to tell her to come, she is staying at the house.   (She and Karla had been evacuated from their host family’s houses around midnight because the floods were increasing at their places.)
5:30am- Got to Chowking, waited in the van until they opeed at 6.  We went in and used internet and ate some breakfast while we waited to see if the water would subside enough to take the van back onto the street to retrieve the others.
Others were at Ma’am Gina’s 2 story house (Hunter, Karla, Diane, Diane, Mary, the other LCF, and our TCF).  The belief was that the flood wouldn’t get much worse and the people in the house would be fine to stay there to wait it out.
6:30a-7- The 6 of us in the van and Fe left for higher ground.  Water on the street was too deep to go back for the others and we needed to relocate because the streets surrounding Chowking were rapidly becoming rivers.
We arrived at Anna Raquel’s Mountain Resort.  Checked in to upstairs rooms by the river.
9:30am- Ate breakfast at their canteen (very simple ham sandwiches & chx bbq)
Played cards and waited.  River swelling fast, becoming very rapid.
2pm- While Skype-ing with Ricky, after telling him all was well and not to worry, we lost power and water in our rooms.  The river is raging at this point and Fe is worried sick about our situation and the others’.  We decide to walk uphill to the resort gate to find an emergency area on higher ground, in case we would need to get away from the river.  We packed up our very essentials of the essentials we brought along (including Styrofoam floats and personal flotation device).
We finally hear from others: They’re scared, crying, literally scared for their lives.  Water is up to 8 feet in the street, coming in first floor of 2 story house.
We get a text from Chelsea’s host sister: “It’s a disaster.  Worst it has ever been.  We’re safe.”
2:30pm- While waiting in the emergency area (which also has rooms) we look at the weather forecast: Continued rain and thunderstorms through Friday.  We go back to our original rooms to get the rest of our belongings to bring with us, just in case.  Returned to the new area (“conference facility”) and move into new rooms.
More waiting.
Fe is a complete wreck by this point, pacing and sick with worry.   She’s worried the others will feel like she left them behind.  “Is Hunter mad at me?”, she asks.
From what we heard, the other LCF and TCF didn’t think the situation was bad enough to evacuate us when Fe was walking the neighborhood trying to round us up.  That’s why the other 5 are stuck in the house on Diwa Street.
By 5pm, the rain had not stopped since 4am when we left Dinalupihan and had been raining constantly for at least 2.5 days.  This rain is unlike any rain I’ve ever experienced.  It literally poured for hours on end.  Plus, the dam in Dinalupihan broke.  Turns out, 14” of rain fell yesterday alone and even today (Wed), as I type this, it continues to rain almost constantly.  The sound of rain on a tin roof will never again be as enjoyable as it once was.
The rest of our night was spent waiting.  (To pass the time I taught everyone how to play Nana Wilson!)
After dark, Fe went out to check the situation and told us to lay low to avoid catching the attention of a group of drunks/drug addicts who were denied check-in and were wondering around our building.  They ended up leaving without any problem.
I ended up going to bed around 8pm and slept through the night.


Wed. Aug 8
Spoke to Ricky who said that the flooding here has made headlines in the States.  At least 100 people in Manila have died.  We got at least 14” of rain in Olongapo yesterday.

Heard from the others: They’re not OK but they’re safe.
From Hunter: They’re all experiencing a ton of emotions every hour.  They have enough food and water for the next 24 hours or so.
We got a visit from a Peace Corps “higher up” who has been trying to access Dinalupihan to get to the group in the house.  The water is too high to drive on the street.  They tried to hire a dump truck and a charter bus but no one is willing to drive into the town because of the amount of water and the fast currents.  They’re still trying to figure out ways to get to the group, but if things get dire, the option of calling in the army has been mentioned.
As for the 7 of us at the mountain resort, we’ve been waiting nervously and passing time all day.  We haven’t heard as much from the other group because they’re trying to conserve their cell phone charges since they are without power.

This is the most uncontrollable, uncertain and most dangerous experience I’ve ever been in or around.  We really don’t know for sure what is happening and what can be done to get the others out.  I’m unbelievably thankful to be one of the ones who got in the van.

I packed up my small duffel bag and my book bag and that’s the extent of what I brought with me.  I left behind my large luggage, 95% of my clothes, all of my shoes, etc.  We’re all coming to grips with the fact that we probably won’t be able to recover our things.  If we can, they’re most likely going to be saturated with contaminated water and they won’t be easy to clean up.  For us, it’s a small price (because of the limited items we brought with us to the Philippines and the resources we Americans have available to tap in order to resupply ourselves).  But when we think about the Filipino families whose homes are now flooded with contaminated water, we can’t help but be heartbroken.  These people, most likely, don’t have an insurance agency that will aid them in rebuilding or refurnishing their homes.  They probably don’t have relatives who are wealthy enough to help them out in their time of need because so many people (in our community) already live with the bare minimum.
Our community project was going to be a teacher training for the faculty at San Ramon Elementary.  It is now a community-wide clean up.   The plan for us PCTs is to go back to our community to help them clean up and rebuild, if necessary, their lives.  It seems like it will be a monumental task.  To think about all the trash that lined the streets on a daily basis, and how much more will be scattered everywhere because of the flood waters, is incredibly daunting. We were warned recently of a disease spread by coming into contact with flood waters contaminated by infected animal urine; the homes of our host families and neighbors are currently swollen with this contaminated water.  Even if their belongings remain in the house after the waters subside, the families will be facing huge health risks.  Another thing to consider is all of the street animals.  Before the flood there were so many street dogs and cats who roamed the neighborhood.  If these animals were unable to find refuge during the flood, their bodies will be part of the clean-up.  Not to mention all the roosters chained to the yards of people who raised them for cockfighting, and the water buffalos used to help work the rice fields.  What has become of them?
This is, altogether, a very stressful situation for all involved and will not be resolved easily.  We will be doing everything we can to help rebuild the community we’ve adopted in the past 3 weeks and may be calling on our friends and families back home to help as well.
I’ll do my best to keep everyone updated with the status of our fellow PCTs who are still currently in the 2 story house on Diwa Street.  We are completely in the dark about how long we’ll be removed from our community and how long we’ll have to wait until our friends are reunited with us again.  Please keep us in your prayers!