It was a day that I would never forget.

September 26, 2009. It was about eight in the morning when strong rains brought about by tropical storm Ondoy (international code name: Ketsana) started to fall down in our area, just like in Metro Manila and in most parts of Luzon.

At first, the rains for me were quite normal considering that only Public Storm Signal Number 1 was hoisted by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) over Metro Manila. And because our house (located along Bernardo St. in San Francisco Del Monte (SFDM), Quezon City) is erected just beside a river, it was SOP (standard operating procedure) for me including my parents to put some of our belongings and other important items at the second floor of our house just in case the river would swell and floodwaters would enter our house.

I had to go somewhere to do some errands that day but had to postpone it when I noticed that rains had not stop for almost two hours. The river in our backyard was filled up and soon after, floodwaters began to enter our two-storey apartment.

We had to hurry up saving our belongings because flood waters were rising so quickly. What compounded our woes was the fact that my mother has a sari-sari store for a living so we also had to save her grocery items as well.

At about 12 noon, floodwaters in our house were already almost six feet high. My father, who will be turning 72 on October 10, had to turn-off electricity to avoid the possibility of us being electrocuted if ever the floodwaters reached the house main electrical system.

At this point in time, we were all getting nervous and frantic because floodwaters were rising so fast and were about to reach the second floor of the house. In our 25-year stay in the area, we have not experienced floodwaters of that magnitude.

I began calling some of my relatives and friends from the media for help. Ian Esguerra, who covers the Malacanang beat for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Norma Astillero, a co-employee of mine in TEMPO, Katherine Adraneda, a college classmate and also a reporter for the Philippine Star, and my cousins Lovelyn Perey and her sister Apple, were among the persons whom I called and text.

My first concern was to get the attention of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) so that electricity in our area will be cut off because floodwaters by 2 p.m. had reach the second floor of the house.

Esguerra, who was busy writing stories at that time, promised to help me with my concern as the electricity had to be shut down immediately in our area after two of our neighbors almost got killed due to electrocution in an attempt to escape the floodwaters.

My second dilemma is how to get out safely from our home because from that point in time, there was no help coming from government agencies.