Monsoon flood leaves QC's Bagong Silangan reeling

MANILA, Philippines - Residents of Quezon City’s Barangay Bagong Silangan – one of the areas worst hit by tropical storm “Ondoy” in 2009 – are still in shock from the monsoon flood that inundated their homes during the past week.

“There really was no storm?” barangay chairperson Crisell Beltran said of the monsoon. While Ondoy dumped rainwater for one day, the monsoon brought continuous rainfall for three days.

Beltran said what was peculiar about the monsoon was that it seemed it couldn’t make up its mind. “It would stop, then rain again, and worse than before,” she said.

As many as 30 percent of residents left the evacuation centers Wednesday morning, fearing their belongings would be stolen, only to ask for rescue at their submerged houses when the rains resumed in the afternoon.

The weather “was like a traitor,” Beltran said, adding that officials and rescue workers “should have patience. We should understand their point of view.”

She added they are afraid that worse things are in store for them – their barangay sits on a fault. “We don’t know what may happen,” Beltran said.

A tally by the police stated that 1,929 families in Bagong Silangan were evacuated, said Superintendent Ronnie Montejo, commander of the Quezon City Police District Station 6.

Beltran said some parts of the barangay were spared by the flood. One ray of sunshine is that those whose homes were not flooded had donated canned goods, rice and clothing to their displaced neighbors, she said.