Rude awakenings
| SHE SAYS |
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| Dinah S. Ventura |
It was a wet Christmas for Bicolanos last year, and many thought it would be the same for the New Year. For some, it felt like the Biblical 40 days and 40 night of nonstop rain, although in reality it was a few straight days of rain, and then reprieve, before rains came again.
And in the last few days before the year ended, rains fell in heavy sheets and went on for hours. Streets in low elevation areas soon got submerged in muddy waters. Pets chained to posts whined to be set free and warm themselves indoors. People hurried to get home, contending with knee-deep floods that soon reached their waist. Families got stuck in their homes, and those who had experienced the wrath of “Reming” in 2006 worried that the same would happen in 2010.
They watched the rain from their windows, wondering what lay ahead. Some refused to believe that such a fate would befall them once again, staring mutely at the brown water while others began to lift up furniture, pack up important items and see to the food and water. The news, meanwhile, blared of raging waters in some parts of the province, where already an old woman and her son had perished in the flood. Families who had earlier fled their homes bewailed the prospect of greeting 2011 in a makeshift shelter. Roads became impassable as bridges gave way. And still the rain continued to fall..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110105com5.html
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