To say that Antipolo City in Rizal, Philippines, can be flooded was once a tale - or a bad joke.
Elevated at around 200 meters, this verdant metropolis would be the last visible land if the rest of Metro Manila drowned. But all of this changed on Sept. 27, when typhoon Ondoy - internationally known as Ketsana - ravaged the area with heavy rains and flash floods.
Walls collapsed. Brown waters raged in. Residents evacuated to higher floors. Vehicles stalled. Roads ceased to be passable. Mobs of stranded commuters soaked in the hip-deep flood.
The fortunate few spared from the deluge were stuck in their homes. With faint mobile phone signals and in between interrupted electricity, they learned of the tragedy unimagined for a city on top. Landlines had been cut.
Many of those on their way home spent overnight in public transports or within commercial establishments without food and light. Some braved the rain on foot, only to witness desperate cries of families and children trapped on the roof and dead bodies floating by.
Ondoy dumped a month's worth of rainfall in mere 12 hours, totaling 455 millimeters, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans with only 250 millimeters in 2005.
All of Metro Manila and 25 provinces in Luzon are still under state of calamity.
On Sunday, government trucks and rubber boats littered the streets. UNICEF donated 8 million pesos worth of relief to victims. The U.S. military provided a helicopter and six boats. But all this came only after the floods had calmed and the situation became less critical.
At the height of the storm, there were only relatives, friends, neighbors and strangers grappling for means to help each other - sending food and water through make-shift buoys, offering cover and dry clothes to passersby, and calling radio and television stations to air need for rescue and relief.
Cash pledges from individuals and corporations reached 20 million pesos by Sunday afternoon, according to the ABS-CBN media network.
Ondoy is leaving the country with at least 83 dead and 32 missing. More than 300,000 people have been displaced. More than 95 million pesos worth of crops were destroyed. Some areas are still under 20 feet water.
Antipolo can be flooded, this much is clear now. The first responders - mostly locals struggling to help family, friends and strangers - will have a new tale to tell.
