On a Cloud

A bunch of typhoons passed by our part of the world recently. Thankfully, the place where I live was spared from most of it. Apart from a power outage, scary winds, and rain, we were not as affected as everyone else. I saw how many others were trapped inside their homes because of the floods. Some lost their homes completely. Some had family members who lost their lives. It’s a memory that will be forever etched in their minds, just like how memories of being affected by floods and typhoons have affected mine. 

My first memory of being affected by a typhoon was when I was a student. I was staying with my grandmother back then. It wasn’t so much about thunder and lightning or the wind but the heavy rainfall. My grandmother had a two-story home, which you'd think was safe enough. But the water was rising so fast that it was scaring us. At the peak of it all, we were forced to go upstairs because it was already midway through the first floor. My grandmother was crying and praying on the staircase as we watched the water rising. Luckily for us, it stopped before reaching us on the stairs. My father later had to walk a long way and wade through floodwater just to come and check if we were OK. 

Another typhoon experience I had was when I was in high school. I was stuck in school with the rest of my classmates after a typhoon hit in the middle of our school day. These days, people announce suspensions before the typhoons get here but back then, it wasn’t the case. Once the storm arrived, classes were suspended and we could go home. But the rain was so hard that it was already starting to flood outside. Our parents were informed they could pick us up at their own risk. But the school suggested that we be allowed to stay in school overnight, which most of us did. Our campus was a very old building with a lot of history. We couldn’t help but be scared of being there overnight in a storm with no electricity. That was a memory that I would never forget.  The horror stories we shared that night were memorable. As well as the scream from someone who thought I was a ghost while I was looking out the window.

In college, I remember being stuck at an editing house with a classmate when a typhoon suddenly hit. We tried to take a cab to go back to campus but no one in their right mind was taking passengers because of the flood. My friend and I weren’t comfortable staying at the editing house so we braved the flood and walked back to school. It wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences. The streets were not exactly clean, so we couldn’t expect the water to be. The risk of getting infected by something was pretty high but we had no choice. We couldn’t see the road because the floodwaters were murky. We had to use an umbrella to tap on the ground we would walk on. It was so we could be sure we weren’t going to be stepping into open manholes along the way. The water reached our waists, so it was a big relief when we finally got back to the campus. Most of our classmates were still there waiting the storm out. I was so grateful that they had clothes that we could change into when we got there.

I thought that I had done my share of flooding experiences when we moved out of the city, but I was wrong. During one insanely heavy storm, the floodwaters got into the house we were renting. Flashbacks of my grandmother’s house came back to me then, but luckily the water didn't get in too far. It just got into the garage and the front part of it. Nevertheless, it was still unnerving since we couldn’t go out to get anything we needed. The water was waist-high at the peak of the storm and it took a while to subside. People who braved the flood to check on us had to wade into the water to come over.

It’s been a while since I experienced a scary typhoon in my area, and I hope that I never have to experience all that again. I think I’ve had my fair share of typhoon stories that are enough to last a lifetime. Looking back though, it made me realize something. It's how despite everything, we managed to pull through, recover, and move on. Yes, the experience was scary and unnerving, but we survived. It made me think that whatever the storm, be it a literal or a figurative one, the best thing we can do is just to go through it. To do what we can to get past it and move on. As daunting as things may seem, as the saying goes, “This too shall pass.” And as impossible as it is to believe when we’re in the middle of that storm, we are going to get past it. Life goes on, and we can only move forward with it.