H.A.B.A.G.A.T. = Hindi Ako Bagyo, Ako'y Gust and Thunder. :)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Manila residents waded through waist-deep floodwaters and dodged flying debris Tuesday as a powerful typhoon struck the Philippines, killing at least 12 people and sending waves as tall as palm trees crashing over seawalls.

Most deaths occurred in metropolitan Manila, which already was soaked by heavy monsoon rains ahead of Typhoon Nesat's arrival with more downpours and wind gusts of up to 93 mph (150 kph). Downtown areas along Manila Bay suffered their worst flooding in decades.

Pounding rains obscured the view of anyone on the streets as soldiers and police scrambled to safely evacuate thousands of people in low-lying areas, where rivers and the sea spilled into shanties, hospitals, swanky hotels and even the seaside U.S. Embassy compound.

"It's flooded everywhere. We don't have a place to go for shelter. Even my motorcycle got filled with water," said motorist Ray Gonzales, one of thousands stranded by fast-rising floodwaters.

The massive flooding came exactly a day after this sprawling, coastal city of 12 million held two-year commemorations for the nearly 500 people killed during a 2009 cyclone, which dumped a month's rainfall in just 12 hours. The geography of the archipelago makes it a welcome mat for about 20 storms and typhoons from the Pacific each year.

Some residents acted more quickly this time to evacuate homes as waters rose, including in the Manila suburb of Marikina where 2,000 people escaped the swelling river by flocking to an elementary school, carrying pets, TV sets, bags of clothes and bottled water.

"We can replace things, but not people's lives," said janitor Banny Domanais, arriving at the school with his wife and three young daughters.

Typhoon Nesat hit ashore before dawn Tuesday in eastern provinces and headed inland just north of Manila with up to an inch of rain per hour, half that of the storm two years ago, said government forecaster Samuel Duran.

Emergency workers evacuated river areas in Manila that are notorious for flooding. In all, authorities ordered more than 100,000 people across the country to shelter from the storm's sustained winds of up to 75 mph (120 kph) and its rains — dropping from an immense 400-mile (650-kilometer) cloud band.

Along downtown Manila's historic baywalk, cars and buses were stuck and residents struggled through floodwaters as waves washed over the seawall, turning a six-lane highway into a huge brown river. Sidewalks and buildings entrances were swamped.

In the financial district of Makati, a billboard fell on two cars and a bus, causing injuries.

Neck-deep waters on the ground floor of the Manila Hospital forced staff to move patients to higher floors and flooded generators left the facility without power, spokeswoman Evangeline Morales said.

Soldiers and police in trucks moved thousands of residents, mostly women and children, from the Baseco shanty facing Manila port after many houses were washed away. Male family members were reluctant to leave, saying they wanted to guard their property.

The Philippine Stock Exchange and U.S. Embassy were closed.

Waters at the gates of the embassy compound reached chest-deep, and staff were told to stay home, spokeswoman Tina Malone said.

"There was some flooding in the embassy. I don't know the extent. I'm not there right now," Malone said.

The Sofitel Philippine Plaza relocated its guests after flooding damaged areas of the high-end hotel on the shores of Manila Bay. Sirinate Meenakul, the hotel's regional communications director, said no guests or staff were injured. She did not say how many guests were there.

Benito Ramos, a retired army general who heads the Office of Civil Defense, said authorities were still assessing the damage as the typhoon continued to pummel some areas of the country. He said it was heartwarming to see Filipinos remaining calm amid the unfolding crisis.

"We see people on the roofs of their houses drinking gin and smiling and waving," Ramos said. "Such resiliency helps them get by in stressful times."

Seasonal monsoon rains ahead of the typhoon plus winds pushing seawater inland had worsened the situation, forecaster Duran told the AP. "Land is saturated with rain so the next rain became run-off and was already floodwater," he said.

The wind sent storm surges over an embankment that then trapped water on the city side so that it "couldn't flow back to the bay," said Francis Tolentino, chairman of Metro Manila Development Authority.

President Benigno Aquino III, on a state visit to Japan, told Associated Press Television News he was confident that authorities were adequately responding to flooding. He said he believed power would be restored to most of the Philippine capital by Tuesday afternoon.

He said in an earlier statement that the government had carried out preventive evacuations, and that nearly half of the Luzon areas served by the main power distributor were without electricity due to short circuits caused by high winds.

The first reported death was a 1-year-old boy who drowned in the central island province of Catanduanes after falling into a creek, the government disaster agency reported. As the typhoon's winds lashed metropolitan Manila, a mother and child were killed when their house was hit by a falling tree, and four were reported killed by a collapsing wall.

Two others drowned, while a man was buried in a landslide in Olongapo west of Manila and another died in traffic collision. A 9-year-old girl was pinned to death when a tree fell on a house in Pampanga province, north of Manila, said regional disaster-response official Josefina Timeteo said.

Four fishermen were missing while more than 50 others were rescued along eastern shores after their boats overturned in choppy seas. Forecasters warned of 12-foot-high (4-meter-high) waves.

The storm was expected to leave the Philippines late Tuesday and head into the South China Sea toward southern China.

(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/huge-floods-manila-typhoon-hits-philippines-024950749.html)

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What you see in the text above is an article about the never-ending rain that hit Metro Manila on August 7, 2012. (Actually, the rain stopped a few days later, but still! :D) Philippines is widely known as a welcome mat for all kinds of typhoons, storms and the like. The geographical placement of the Philippines is also conveniently placed in the Pacific Ring of Fire. This means that it also welcomes earthquakes. And when earthquakes are invited to the party, tsunamis tag along to join the fun.  However, the effects of these natural disasters are NOT fun. Although, Filipinos find every little way to find happiness in such situations, it is seriously not fun. But moving on to the topic, this "never-ending rain" was initially mistaken as a really bad thunderstorm, but in reality, what actually happened was a start of an apocalypse monsoon, or in the Filipino language, "HABAGAT".

Yes, even monsoons know what peer pressure is.

This monsoon caused plenty of outcomes: a widespread of diseases, an increase in poverty, homelessness, deaths, mixed emotions, new internet sensations, and public swimming pools. In my opinion, this monsoon wouldn't be a flood in the first place if the people didn't clog canals and every hole in the Philippines with their trash. Adding also the fact that the Philippines is growing bald in relation to the trees. Those poor, poor, harmless, helpful, trees.

I was serious about the "new internet sensations".

Classes and work were suspended because of the severity of the flood. This is a once in a lifetime moment when you can actually ride a boat or row a giant plastic vat to your local groceries and not get arrested or taken to your local mental institution.

  

When classes are suspended, 90% of students rejoice. Even I would celebrate. But that time will come when all the flood water has finally dried up, and all we have is a very dirty classroom with weird specimens hanging on every ceiling. And everyone will have to cram to make up for that lost time because Mr. Monsoon wasn't very kind to us this time. Oh, and maybe you'd find your teachers' class records all drenched and pulped up somewhere. Back to square one, people? :(

Because boats are too mainstream.

Fortunately, plenty of donations came rushing in to help the victims of the flood. These include water, candles, canned goods, can openers, rice, clothes and other personal necessities that people would need in a time of crisis. Everyone pitched in to offer something for a good cause. HOORAY! :D

Yes, that finger is pointing at you.

You see, it's not easy being a flood victim. For starters, would you enjoy staying in a rundown evacuation center with tons of people you don't even know? Can you tolerate their attitudes? What about the crying babies? No one enjoys the sound of crying babies, trust me. Imagine a crying baby. Now, multiply that by a hundred or maybe a thousand. Paradise? I don't think so.

Even he can't tolerate his own crying.

Next scenario: You are now in an abandoned gymnasium with plenty of people. But you are not there to watch the olympics, because this gymnasium is converted into another evacuation center! Hello people, this is the Philippines, not America. Anyway, you start to lie down on the cold floor because you have nothing else to do. You are hungry. KFC? Mcdonalds? What about Mang Inasal? Mang Inasal sounds good. Steaming hot rice. Juicy roasted chicken. That tall glass of ice-cold coke. All the yummy calories. I have an idea! Let's go to Mang In---- ohhhhhhhhh wait, you can't. Why? Because Mang Inasal can only serve flood water soup now. What a sad, sad life.

He's taunting you. Don't let the rice ball fool you.

Floods are considered as natural disasters. But for me, these are man-made. It wouldn't be a flood in the first place if all those trees had a chance to live and start drinking the water. Those trees are now furniture. Furniture do not drink water. I am not an activist or anything, just giving something to think about. Something to distract you from staring at that rice ball in the picture above. Do not look at him directly in the eye. 

 Maybe furniture DO drink water.

Wrapping up my super-long blog about the Manila Flood Incident, I would like to give a moral lesson to this story. Canals are friends, not foes. So stop throwing your trashes, candy wrappers, condoms, corpses, counterfeit money, and other disposable potential cloggers, down the drain. It's not nice. Really. No one is happy to see random floating specimens down a river. So do us all a favor and keep those things to yourselves or at least properly dispose of them. :l