This chapter is based on true events taken from my experience (first part) and that of two other namely my professor (Second part) and a college student(Jessica's story). In memoriam of the SENDONG tragedy which I was a victim of actually. It happened in the city of Iligan, Philippines. This morning we remembered that tragedy in church.

12.19.2011

            The dogs were howling and crying out loudly non-stop. They were distressed for some reason; maybe they were frightened of the strong winds. The strong winds were of course brought on by the large dark clouds that make up the tropical storm currently hitting the region. The cries of the dogs continued and so did the howls of the wind.

            I stirred from my sleep in a state of confusion. Why were the dogs so noisy?! I never understood why our dogs hated water. I reached for my cellphone under my pillow and checked the time. I groaned when I saw that it was only 12 am. Me and Jessica, who by the way, was my girlfriend spent the whole day finishing our thesis at my house. We ended our final revision at around 10 pm which meant that I only got 2 hours of sleep.

            I snuggled closer to her sleeping sweetheart and brushed some of her stray hairs away from her face. Jessica snuggled even closer to me when our bodies met. Our sweet moment was disrupted by the incessant cries of the dogs which only grew louder. Jessica stirred beside me and rubbed her eyes.

            “Taengoo check out what’s wrong with the dogs.” Jessica told me in a groggy i-just-woke-up voice. Jessica didn’t need to tell me that because I was already on my feet. I jumped out of bed in annoyance but ended up screaming as a result.

            “!” I screamed, causing Jessica to sit up abruptly.

            “What’s wrong?!” Jessica asked in panic.

            “Water.” Was all that I could reply, my legs caught in contact with freezing cold waters. That was why the dogs were noisy. It was flooding!

            “What?” Jessica asked in confusion.

            “It’s flooding Sica get out of bed.” I replied a little calmer than what I was feeling.

            “Oh my God!” Jessica exclaimed as she got out of bed and felt the water against her legs. Jessica immediately fumbled with her cellphone. And I knew she was contacting her parents and sister.

            I proceeded to shout trying to wake up my parents. My brother was the one awakened by my yelling and he too cursed out loud when he realized it was flooding. Jessica was still trying to contact her parents.

            “Thank God! Mom you picked up!” Jessica exclaimed in joy.

            “Yes I’m alright. Please mom you and dad stay safe. I love you. I’ll see you later.” Jessica said.

            I was banging loudly at the door while my brother went to wake up our little sister Hayeon whose room was located near the kitchen down the hall. I stopped banging the door when I heard my dad cursing and their bedroom door opening.

            I was immediately in adrenalin rush mode. Jessica was already stuffing our laptops and flash drives in plastic bags and then placing them in the laptop carriers. It doesn’t matter if our documents get wet as long as the soft copies were safe. I went to my drawer and got some tapes to secure the plastic wrapping better. While I was doing that Jessica was already stuffing my other valuables like jewelry and money in Ziploc bags which she found inside my stash of plastic bags. I had a huge habit of recycling the bags and I was saving the Ziploc bags for tomorrows’ supposed party at our friend’s house so that I could take home some extra food.

           “Taeyeon secure everything!” My mom ordered me but nodded when she saw me doing just that. After securing the laptop and valuables we placed it at the top most level of the cabinet. It was a precautionary measure just in case the waters rose higher.

            Jessica who was meticulous with clothes, was stuffing mine inside my numerous plastic bags and were sealing them inside tightly with masking tape.

            “You’ll thank me later baby.” Jessica said to me when I gave Jessica a weird look.

            I went to the kitchen slash dining room and helped my mom place her precious baking equipment up on the top most shelves. My dad came in and helped us with the other appliances. Hayeon on the other hand was moving the food inside the fridge that have not been touched by the waters over to some plastic Styrofoam coolers and gave them to my brother who secured it with tape and moved it up higher on the top most shelves.

            “The papers? Land titles?” I heard my mom asked dad to which dad replied all secured. It was a good thing we weren’t panicking as much and that my mom was well organized. Me and Jessica were wrestling with the wires of the sound system as we tried to remove it from the tv stand. My brother managed to lift up the tv into a higher stand.

            “Your parents ok?” I asked my girlfriend and she nodded.

            “My mom said that they were fine. Don’t worry Taengoo we have are helpers there.” Jessica said. My girlfriend came from a much affluent family than mine. Jessica’s dad owned a company which Jessica would inherit soon enough while her mom owned a boutique.

            My parents were professionals my dad was an engineer who worked abroad and had come home now for a Christmas vacation while my mom was a professor at a University. I inherited my love for math from my dad and love of music from my mom.

            Jessica started shivering beside me which was normal since we were getting soaked from trying to freaking save the sound system.

            “Leave it Taeng!” My dad ordered us, just after my dad said that the water suddenly rose at an alarming speed.

            “Everybody let’s get out of the HOUSE!!” my dad thundered. Apparently my brother Jinwoo opened the door to save the dogs but as soon as he opened the sliding doors at the back, water flooded in like crazy.

            “Let’s get out the back!” my dad yelled but he was thrown aback by the string flow of water. Meanwhile me, Jessica and my mom tried to open the front door but it was so hard since the door opened outwards not inwards! It was going against the flow of the water. We could hear our neighbors screaming.

            “Miguel!!!” My mom yelled for my dad. My brother was already coming to help us since going out the door was impossible. Hayeon was crying and I could see that Jessica was also starting to get shaken. If the water rose higher we would be trapped inside!

            My dad finally made it to the door and was trying to open it.

            “Get some screw drivers we will remove the hinges!” My dad ordered. My mom who was usually calm was now starting to panic the water had risen up to her waist and it was still rising, and it was rising fast!

            I helped my mom get the screw driver and my brother and my dad removed the hinges first at the top. Just after the upper hinge was removed the screaming intensified. The water rose up so quickly it was no at chest level. My sister was crying. Jessica was crying while she supported my sister up making her stand on our sofa which was now almost afloat. My mom was yelling while helping my dad and I was supporting the door with my brother preventing it from falling over us.

            It was so hard to get the lower hinge off since it as below the water but my dad managed to do it with my mom’s help. As we removed the door we were met with another obstacle, the screen door. Jessica was supporting Hayeon who was swimming now. More screams erupted as the water rose up higher up to our necks.

            “ON THE COUNT OF THREE PUSH!!!” my dad ordered us. We braced ourselves as we pushed the screen door open. We we