Force Majeure Part 2 --

Day 2 --


The plan: Get water and supplies. ASAP.

We checked our freezers and packed everything into styrofoam boxes and ice. We made a mental note to buy canned food because it would last longer. My main priority was Seth's things -- Virlix for his allergies and milk.

We knew which supermarkets opened the earliest so we decided to go to those places first.

On our way to Atrium (Iloilo Supermarket, General Luna branch), our driver asked if we could take a detour and take a look at the nearby subdivisions -- Puerto Real and Ledesco. We had been hearing news about how Ledesco was already submerged in water. So we went inside Puerto Real. While they are next to each other, they are topographically different. Puerto Real is about 3 meters higher than Ledesco. We went to the boundary and we could see parts of the wall destroyed by the flood. Over the wall, you could see the watermark left by the flood the day before.

At the supermarket, we went directly to where they stocked the water. There were no more big bottles available, we had to buy the 500ml bottles. At the checkout, we saw many people buying litros of soda instead. Other items being bought were: candles, batteries, pails and bread.

*** An amusing side story
Our car wouldn't start. The driver suspects that it is because of the cold/damp/wet. So we had to push -- me, my sister and Johann. Seth and his yaya were in the car with the driver.

That was a first for all of us. ^_^

* * *

We had bought snacks for the workers and helpers so we distributed these when we got home.

Over the radio, we listened to the announcers list the places which were the worst hit. We listened to them estimate the number of casualties and the amount of damage to the city.

We received several good news:

We called my aunt and were relieved to hear that my cousin and his family had been rescued and are now warm and dry in my aunt's house.

PECO (our electric company) announced that they were already in the process of restoring electricity to the city. (We were all crossing our fingers, hoping that our area would get electricity back soon.)

The rest of the day was spent checking in on friends -- a lot of my parents friends had called from overseas, asking them to visit their families here in Iloilo. Our helpers and workers were busy preparing "care packages" of rice, noodles and Milo/coffee.

At 7 (the time PECO announced we would get our electricity back), we still didn't have electricity so we prepared for another night of candles and fading emergency lights.

The power came back on at around 9 and the first thing we did was charge our cellphones, my laptop and the emergency lights.