The road to normalcy will be long and hard for Muntinlupa City residents.

According to Mayor Aldrin San Pedro, it would take two to three months before the floodwater currently submerging eight of the city’s nine barangays would completely recede. This is because these barangays sit beside Laguna Lake, which overflowed due to continuous rains over the weekend.

One of them, Barangay Tunasan, has floodwater that is at the level of the lake itself. “We don’t see it receding soon,” said Rep. Rufino Biazon, who distributed relief goods to evacuees at Muntinlupa Elementary School on Monday.

“This is going to be an extended situation for us, that’s why we need all the help we can get. I thought we brought enough relief goods today but the number of evacuees is still growing.

We need more food and water,” Biazon said.

With the water treatment plant in Barangay Putatan still deep in murky floodwater, there’s also no telling when the constituents would regain their supply of potable water.

The local Social Services Department (SSD) said 2,445 families comprising 11,656 individuals have been transferred to the 17 evacuation centers in the city. The families are temporarily sheltered in schools, covered courts and churches.

Despite this, San Pedro said it is business as usual for the city government as they try to aid victims of tropical storm “Ondoy” especially those living along the Laguna Lake shoreline.

“Our offices are open to help the typhoon victims,” said the mayor, who ordered the packing and distribution of food and clothes to the displaced families.

Biazon, for his part, called on the national government to give additional relief to the residents of Muntinlupa so that the city may reserve its resources for the next step to recovery: Rebuilding.