Finding ways

Netnet Camomot

THE plan was to attend our Rotary club’s meeting on Wednesday night. But then, there was the Pagasa advisory on heavy rainfall, thus, the need to shift to Plan B—stay home, have breakfast for dinner again, write this column, do more Rotary work.

With photos of Monday’s flash flood still fresh in our memory, going out of the house in Cagayan de Oro despite a heavyainfall warning could now be likened to smoking in Davao. Just don’t.

Better look up before sunset to make sure the sky is clear. If it’s cloudy, Google Pagasa or check out the city government’s weather updates on Facebook.

There was a time when the rain meant having churros con chocolate at a café downtown. But those days are gone. Safer to stay home and have lauya instead. Or fish tinola with malunggay—healthier, although, I prefer breakfast for dinner, so, Spam, fried egg, rice, and coffee for Wednesday night. Weight gain pa more.

I love the sound of rain. Until it begins to make sounds on the ceiling, which could only mean one thing—roof repairs pa more.

Last Monday’s flash flood survivors now fear the rain, would rather ignore its sound as they rush home to avoid being stranded again. Friends and relatives who live outside CDO were sending messages through Messenger, or calling and texting me to ask if we’re OK. I ended up repeating the same story of how my sis-in-law was stranded at JR Borja Extension, and my niece at the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTSP).

They both have stories to tell, and my niece, who’s an artist, tells hers with photos, videos, drawings of her car, water levels, the classroom she stayed in, how she returned to the car and entered it through the trunk so she could sleep on the backseat, the water she saw inside the car, the sound of heavy rain which prompted her to leave the car again, and food rations—three pieces of cookies, a piece of crackers, a bottle of water. She finds it therapeutic to pair her story with drawings.

Her story began from the time she left a school building, then drove her car through the flood inside the campus, and waited at USTSP’s gate along with other cars, expecting the flood to subside, only to see the island in the middle of CM Recto Avenue disappear, and that’s when she realized she had to park the car and seek shelter at the fourth floor of the Architecture building. In estimating the time each of this happened, she referred to the exact hours and minutes as indicated on her cellphone for the texts with her dad or mom, and used that as her gauge.

She didn’t even complain. Simply waited for the rescue teams to arrive which happened 12 hours later for her at past 2 am. She took photos and videos while inside the car waiting for the flood to subside, and then, while waiting for rescue.

My sis-in-law, on the other hand, ended up driving through Indahag and then Taguanao before reaching uptown at 9 pm. At first, she wanted to pick up her daughter at USTSP until a friend was able to convince her that it was simply impossible.

By the way, there’s another university often visited by floods, and that’s my alma mater for college, the University of Santo Tomas in Manila whose initials happen to be UST, the first three letters of USTSP. Way back when, we would cross flooded streets, and a dormmate did fall into an open manhole while wading through the flood at Morayta. Decades later, even CDO now experiences floods. Here’s unsolicited advice for universities: Never use a name that could be shortened into UST.

Other Cagayanons were going through worse this week as they had to deal with another flood episode on Wednesday night while cleaning up after Monday’s flash flood. But, like them, my thoughts were also on repairs and budgets since water is strong and it’s like that bank—it finds ways. That’s probably what inspired Bruce Lee to advise, “Be water”?

Water is good for the health when you drink it often enough throughout the day. It’s still the best choice in lieu of soda, fruit juice, milk, coffee, hot choco, and alcohol. Hot tea is also good—relaxing, induces meditation, and reminds you of yoga which your recovering knee may not love.

You drink water after chewing too much chocolates and sweets. You drink water when the throat feels dry. You drink water when hunger pangs don’t necessarily mean pure hunger.

You take showers and baths with water. You swim in water. You use water to wash off mud from the floor after a flash flood. But once it’s raining cows and carabaos, and the city’s drainage system can’t keep up with the speed of those cows and carabaos, water may make you cringe and run away.

Other areas in Mindanao and Visayas also survived through floods caused by the same weather condition that passed by CDO. And this is not an exclusive for Pinas. Houston, Texas in the US also had floods recently. Too much rainfall in a few hours instead of a month could result to floods. In life, we’re advised to take things one step at a time, one day at a time. If only we can also give the same advice to rain: One raindrop at a time, one day at a time.

Any flood survivor has learned to practice minimalism and to be less attached to things, and that should be true for the rest of us. We don’t need a flash flood as a reminder on what’s most essential in life. And with this, I remember a quote from “The Little Prince”: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

I guess food is now the best thing to buy since it’s gone once consumed, and won’t require shelves for long-term storage. But if you overeat, that food will still be stored for a long time through your fats and excess body weight. Gosh. Food is also like that bank, eh? It finds ways.