September 8, 2008.  I woke up earlier than I normally do (7:00 PM Manila Time) to the incessant roars of thunder and non-stop flickering of lightning outside my window. For a minute there, I thought there was a photo shoot at the living room. I continued laying in bed to get my “five-minute snooze” and tried very hard to keep a shut eye.

It was only when the boyfriend called me up and told me he won’t be able to come home just yet. I asked him why, and seemingly in disbelief at my ignorance, he told me that he couldn’t come home because of the heavy rains.  I got up in an instant and opened the balcony door.  It was raining heavily and the lightning and thunder were still ongoing.  

I searched online for any typhoon and found out through http://maybagyo.com that Tropical Depression Marce (Marceeeeeeeeeee!  Baklang-bakla lang no?) has hit the Philippines.  So this was the reason for all that commotion downstairs! I looked down and saw a long line of vehicles, in a deadlock, along the South Superhighway and Gil Puyat Avenue. 

The cause for such a deadlock was the flooding around the area.  The end of the flyover near at the corner of South Superhighway and Dela Rosa St. was flooded and made the area completely un-passable. I figured that this would not last for a long time so I took a shower and got dressed for work.  

All set to head to work, I took a peek once more from the balcony and saw that it was virtually impossible to go to work.  Traffic was extremely heavy and the cars and buses were stagnant, like the flood water, facing all directions.  I changed back into my home clothes and decided that it would be more practical to wait for the rains to stop and the flood waters to subside a little, than go to work and risk getting wet and contracting diseases.  

I took more photos from the balcony but my curious self prodded me to head downstairs and take photos and videos. When the elevator opened at the ground floor lobby, it was evident that there was one too many people stranded in my building.  They were either headed for work (at such an ungodly hour) or came from work and just happened to be in the wrong place (my building) at the wrong time. (a number of cuties there, too, by the way). 

Most of the areas around my building were flooded with murky waters waist-deep. There really was no option left for me, except to ride one of those improvised “vehicles” (which I call Styroboats), made out of big chunks of styrofoam.  They put a large panel of styrofoam under something (I don’t know what it is, I did not bother inspecting) and put monobloc plastic chairs on top, and Voila! — instant boat!  

I did not want to ride that for fears of it capsizing. Besides,  it would have cost me a hundred Pesos just to ride on one.  I’d rather spend that hundred Pesos buying 2 packs of Lucky Strike Filters, or Marlboro. So off I went taking pictures and shooting videos.  I did not care if people looked at me in an odd way.  All I knew was that the Nokia N82, which was loaned to me by the good people at Nokia for testing and documenting the Philippine Blog Awards, had a wonderful camera (5.0 Megapixel Phone Camera with Carl Zeiss Lens and Tessar 2.8/5.6 Xenon flash/AF) and I needed to take advantage of that. 

I took as much photos without any care in the world (except me and the N82 getting wet, of course).  When I started taking videos of the styroboat, I bumped in to a friend, Diz Dizon, who, I found out later on, came from the Mall of Asia.  It took them about two hours to get to out area, but it normally would just take about 15 minutes or so. He agreed to an ambush interview and it appears in the video below.

Tropical Depression Marce hits the Philippine from AJ Matela on Vimeo.

After 30 minutes at the ground floor of my building, and after noticing that the floodwater was rising closer and closer to the stairs leading to the lobby, I decided it was time to go back up and inform my boss that I would be really really late for work.

From where I was, I made a plan in my head as to how I will brave the flood.  I looked at the “drier” parts of the area to see if I could hippity-hop and skippity-skip from my building to the intersection of Buendia and Suth Super, to the island along Buendia, to Washington, to my office building.  Sadly, at that hour, the “lowest” and most dry area had waters higher than the ankles. I really wanted to go to work at the soonest possible time, but this option was just, well, not an option!

For a minute or two, I considered inflating one of my old airbeds, get old mopsticks, and lay out the airbed on the flood.  In my mind, I could picture myself masculinely rowing through the flood aboard a blue air mattress.  But that was a FAIL too.  Besides,  I would not have had the energy to row. 

I looked out the balcony for a good number of times in a span of 2 hours.  I felt like a watchtower or a lighthouse for my friends who were stranded in their houses, or were having difficulty going home.  I was like a call center that everyone called into to ask for updates and the status of the flood.  At about 15 minutes before 1:00 AM, I noticed that cars and buses were already able to pass through Buendia.  There was still flood water, but about 75% of the street was passable.

And so changed into “work-appropriate” shirt and jacket, and put on shorts. The jeans, I would wear later when I arrived at work.  I packed my bag with extra unmentionables, jeans, extra shirts, and toiletries — just in case I’d get stranded, should the rains carry on to the day after.  I went downstairs, braved some flooded areas (thankfully they were not higher than the ankles anymore~), and waited for any public transport.  I flagged down several taxicabs, but all were occupied.  Five minutes later, I saw a non-aircon bus which was practically empty.  I flagged it and hopped on and took a 45-second ride to my final destination:  my office building!

It’s so ironic that I am one of the few poeple who live very close to work, but it was I who had the most difficulty going to work.   Imagine being late for about four hours?   And it normally just takes me 3 to 7 minutes to get to work! Grabe ka, Marce!  You are one hell of Tropical Depression!

Now that’s what I call Hell on High Water.

MORE PHOTOS OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION MARCE’S WRATH HERE

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