Milenyo

If you ask me the scariest driving experience I have ever had, I have my very own top three list:

- Driving through snow and very slippery roads for the first time in my life in Belgium
- Driving through extremely thick fog and heavy rains in Tagaytay on my way to Calaruega for Omar’s wedding
- Driving to PGH and back during Typhoon Milenyo last Thursday

I’m sure you can ask anyone in Luzon about their experiences when Typhoon Milenyo hit the Philippines. I’ve seen a lot of bad typhoons in my life wherein cars and houses in Manila end up submerged under floodwater. But as far as I can recall, this has to have been the worst storm I have ever witnessed in terms of the destruction of trees, walls, houses, vehicles, billboards, and lamp posts.

Watching the news later that day (I was lucky to have had power and cable when most of the city was blacked out), I felt incredibly fortunate. Accounts of billboards, trees, and lamp posts falling on cars made the news. Lots of people were taken to hospitals, but not everyone was lucky enough to make it as Milenyo resulted in scores of fatalities.

So how did I end up driving on a day like this?

I actually had a meeting scheduled in the PGH with the chief resident of the pediatric wards. We were supposed to discuss setting up an art therapy program (one of Bukas Sarili’s members, Elsa Ortega, is taking up an art therapy course in France and, after finishing her first of two terms, was very excited in setting it up here as well). That morning, Elsa asked me if the meeting was going to push through. Her text woke me up, and, not realizing that signal # 3 had been hoisted over Metro Manila, I text her back saying that it was pushing through. When I finally got up, I found out what was going on and I ask Elsa if she wanted to reschedule because I know how difficult it is to drive to Manila (with its propensity to be submerged under floods during heavy rains) but it seems Elsa had already decided to head to PGH and she asked me to reassure her that I would be heading there myself. I guess I felt I couldn’t leave her there alone and I guessed (incorrectly, as it turns out) that the doctors in PGH would probably have to be there because they can’t really close PGH down even during bad weather. As such, I ended up in my car braving through the insane weather.

So how did my day turn out?

- I decide to take the Buendia -> South Super Highway -> Quirino -> Taft route. Along the way, I see a piece of those yero-type sheets of metal get blown by the wind and almost hit the car right in front of me.
- When I get to Buendia-South Super Highway intersection, I see that there is car-hood-deep water. So I turn back, deciding instead to take the Edsa -> Roxas Boulevard route. (This was around 1030 so the winds had already started to pick up). Along the way, I have a branch fall on my hood.
- Upon getting to Roxas Blvd, I see a whole lot of toppled lamp posts and a lot of other debris. I pray that nothing falls on my car.
- I get to PGH at 1130 upon which I find out that the doctor we were supposed to meet was not there. And Elsa's umbrella was stolen when she got to PGH.
- We then decide to head to Robinson's Ermita so she could get an umbrella and so that we both could have lunch. That way, we would at least have a bit more energy when we braved the rains and floods again.
- Upon getting to the parking lot of Robinson's, I realize I have a flat tire. So with the help of a security guard, we replace my flat tire (thank God my spare was ok)
- While eating in Mexicali, we realize that droves of people were gathered around the exit of the mall, with gravely concerned looks on their faces. We look out and we notice that the winds were blowing like I had never seen them do so before, and we had horizontal rain!
- The mall starts closing and we decide to try and head home for fear that it would get worse. But when we got to the parking lot, the guard there says that we should stay put because a lot of other cars that left the parking lot ended up coming back in because there was too much debris flying around.
- We walk from one end of the mall to the other, and then start walking back. By that time, the worst of the winds was over. So we decide to head home.
- I drop Elsa off at the LRT station because she thought she saw that it was open. As it turns out, it wasn't but she told me later on that a taxi had been kind (and courageous) enough to drive her home.
- I take the Quirino Ave -> South Super Highway -> Edsa route. My plan was to go around the Magallanes interchange to get to Edsa. But the problem was that a huge billboard frame had dropped onto the particular flyover that would have taken me across Edsa from one side of South Super Highway to the other. Thus, the only way I could go was underneath the interchange and back onto South Super Highway, this time heading to Buendia.
- I try taking the Don Bosco route but that area is flooded (and cars that attempted to go through the flood decided to turn back upon hitting Pasay Road, leading me to think that cars had gotten stuck in the water in that area)
- I try taking the Buendia route but it was the same. So I figure, take a U-turn, head to Bicutan, take another "U-turn" there, and take the C-5 route and hope that it is not flooded there.
- Upon crossing the Magallanes interchange the second time though, I take a look at the damage to the flyovers, and notice that the flyover from northbound SLEX leading into Edsa is okay. So I then decide to take a U-turn at the Villamor area and then head back to Edsa.

So I finally make it to Edsa and get home. It took me about 2 hours though, but nothing really bad happened to me. A flat tire and a branch falling on my hood, but that's it. So I do feel very fortunate. What have I learned from this? Try to avoid driving under similar circumstances in the future. :)