The “Milenyo” story
Storm scene in Makati
It would seem that everything’s getting back to normal after that freaky storm, Milenyo (who comes up with these names anyways?) passed by and wreaked havoc throughout the metropolis. Not since typhoon Osang has Manila been battered and bruised and suffered long time blackouts like recently. I guess not everyone expected this storm to be this big, even I who keeps track of the weather and even have an idea that it’s coming didn’t expect this to be that strong, hence I was outside almost the whole day and experienced this storm’s passing. I’m sure each and everyone has a story to tell, well here’s some highlights during that day, though not extravagant as an action movie, but I find it surreal and unexpected.
Megamall floor sweepers and the blanket white scene
I was in Valero, Makati that morning. Since my appointment was cancelled, I headed towards Buendia walking amidst the howling winds and horizontal rains that opening an umbrella seems a futile effort. I was in a sidewalk when two ladies was heading opposite my way, one had an un-opened umbrella over her head but continued to totter along but not looking ahead, then suddenly in front of me she bumped on a sign pole. Okay I almost laughed which is mean of me really but it was a funny sight. But good thing she laughed as well finding she’s alright. I guess in the midst of the storm laughter can be a relief.
Riding a jeep in Buendia going to my former office in Jupiter, I sat near the entrance edge of the jeep. Suddenly behind us a large tree fell on the street. That was a close call, but good thing the vehicle behind us was ale to stop immediately, hope no one was hurt though. Looking at the distance it blocked 2/3 of the driveway and no one was passing around.
Since there were no MRT at that time, we rode a bus at Edsa going to crossing and when we were in Estrella area the right side of our bus suddenly turned white. I thought that a lightning struck nearby but I heard a strong buzz and it was an electric surge nearby! Imagine Son Goku powering up with purple and white color all around, it was just freaky. I don’t know if anyone got hurt there but there were people running.
My friend and I stopped by Megamall area to have lunch as I was planning to head to the office. While eating lunch at Yoshinoya, we noticed that the rain started to get stronger and the wind was erratic. After lunch we spent some time in Power Books but soon the power went out. I guess the mall generator couldn’t handle it. Looking outside the rain was so thick everything seems white and reminded me of that game Silent Hill.
We decided to stay at one of the benches nearby and wait. We noticed a lot of family and children in the mall. Did they think they could escape here? Almost all the boutiques and shops were closed. There was this homeless looking guy who asked for money while we were sitting, he said he lost his wallet and asked if I could spare 10 pesos so he could go home. I gave him the 10 pesos he wanted and told him to have a nice journey home. I left my friend there at the bench and told her to watch our stuffs while I buy some refreshments at “Soy Yummy“. When I got back, she told me that the homeless guy was circling around our bench for sometime and left shortly when I got back. Weird guy.
Since there was nothing else to do there we decided to change venue and head to Shangri-la. Walking at the back, the winds were still strong but not as strong as before. We went through Shanri-la Hotel going to the mall but the mall was already closed. There were lots of people by Edsa waiting to ride a bus. Looking for a place to hangout since there was no electricity at home we decided to head towards the Pavillion and hoping it’s still open. I noticed a lot of umbrellas are also in the streets, I guess the people decided to just throw them out since it’s just broken and useless with these strong winds.
Edsa Pavillion is still intact, cool with electricity, we decided to eat some icy snacks which weird-ed my friend out since there’s a storm. And there we are having some weird conversation over ice cream and Oishi Pinatsu on how surreal the day feels like. It’s like a weird dreamy episode. At the food court, there were bunch of groups having barrels of beer since one shop was selling beer with free pulutan.
We decided to rent internet nearby since it was still early to go home, but we didn’t finish the hour since we were all asked to close end our sessions since the shop would soon close.
It was around 5pm when we decided to go home since it was going dark.There’s this major flock of people in crossing all eager to go home. We headed to the Pasig line of jeep and saw a thick long line of people waiting, making the death march seems a feeble display. We decided to go back to Shang to take a taxi instead but when we got there, it was so infrequent that it could take us forever just to wait. Again we headed back to Megamall, were fortunately an FX was already waiting. Going home, we saw the devastation Milenyo brought. The streets were filled with trees uprooted from the island concretes. It was a sad sight. A tree takes too long to grow.
As expected there were no lights at home, so we were stuck listening to AM radio which I haven’t listened for some time. But I fell asleep shortly, I guess from exhaustion of going around all day during a storm.
It was just a surreal day, and just tips you out of balance but the spontaneity were a somehow a welcome relief. I know there were devastations and damages and inconveniences around but it’s during these times when unexpected uncontrollable events somehow makes you stop what you regularly do just explore the world in and around you. Maybe God sends these storms as a wake-up call and interrupt us in our everyday routines and hints us to romemebr to look on a different direction once in a while.
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Saturday, September 30th, 2006 at 6:55 pm 
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September 30th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
i have to congratulate pag-asa for the accuracy of their report, sayang di nakining mga billboard onwer, nabawasan sana ang pinsala sa kalye.. anyways.. tama sabi mo i wasnt expected a strong typhoon like that in fact when i left home normal na normal lang lahat. although nung kumain kami sa canteen sa ofc kitang kita ko ang hagupit ng bagyo but it parang mabilis lang na dumaan. umuwi kami 5pm may pabaon pa ang company kasi baka daw kami ma stranded. doon ko lang nakita na sobrang laki pala ng pinsala ng bagyo, we were fortunate na may tv sa shuttle namin kaya kita namin kaagad yung aftermath ni milenyo. nakakapanlumo. sana makaahon kaagad yung mga naapektuhang masyado ng bagyong milenyo,
you are right, we may choose to complain about the black-out etc etc, but we may also use the time to reflect, indeed maybe God has a message for us
October 1st, 2006 at 8:05 am
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October 1st, 2006 at 9:45 am
Good to hear you are safe!
Indeed this was quite a typhoon. First time in my life I experienced such a storm. Just got back electricity this morning at 4am.
October 1st, 2006 at 2:34 pm
what a nice experience! “it was an electric surge nearby! Imagine Son Goku powering up with purple and white color all around” hahaha… pati yun naisip mo pa in the middle of the chaos… sayang dapat pinicturan mo yun *hahaha nagsuggest pa ako *lol…
for us the storm was a blessing… everyone was there… bonding time talga… hehehe
God bless!
October 1st, 2006 at 3:16 pm
glad you’re ok. that storm almost rip our roof. hehe.
October 1st, 2006 at 6:28 pm
It was a big storm. But the damages and destructions could have been minimized if not lack of preparedness and warnings. We had all kinds of storms, snow storm, blinding hale and worse, but usually the authorities will warm people to stay at home or proceed to safer places and schools are always closed more at the side of caution. We can not avoid destructions and casualties completely, but with proper readiness, we can minimize them. Maybe, we learned our lesson because there will be more “milenyos” and stronger storms waiting and we will be ready for its next visit.
October 1st, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Thank you for sharing and blogging.
October 2nd, 2006 at 6:30 am
its nice to hear that you were safe. dont feel good though about the storm…
kind regards!
October 2nd, 2006 at 11:38 am
I can see Valero from where our office is. Grabe talaga ang bagyo noon and its good na di ka napahamak at nakupo, di ko na mababasa yung mga post mo kung sakali.
God bless and have a great week ahead
October 2nd, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Everyone was startled by the strength of this typhoon. It’s through these times that we truly see the resilience of Filipinos and our ability to adapt and make light of the bleakest of circumstances.
Glad to hear everything’s getting better on your side of the Philippines. Hope everything goes back to normal soon.
October 2nd, 2006 at 1:27 pm
matagal tagal na din kasing hindi dumadaan ang bagyo sa metromanila e. ngayon lang after eleven years (?)
Nung Thursday na un, wala kaming pasok. ang nakikita ko lang ung mga nangyayari sa paligid ko.
Friday na nung makalabas ako. ang bilis lang ng byahe from amin hanggang magallanes pero pa-akyat ng flyover nagstart nang maging mabagal ung trapik. Daming billboards ang nagbagsakan. Ayos lang bumagsak e, kaso me mga nababagsakan.
ung malaking billboard ng pancakehouse sa magallanes flyover bumagsak, me binagsakan na bus. 
Kahapon, nagpunta kami ng Sta. Rosa, Laguna, ang daming mga punong nabuwal, nabunot, at nasira. Nakakalungkot.
Pero alam mo ang ganda ng sunset. maaliwalas kasi ang langit. Usually ganun pagkatapos ng ulan e.
Kgabi lang din kami nagkakuryente. buti na lng, kasi mauubos na ang tubig namin hehehe.
nga pala… sa may valero cor. sedeno yang pic mo a. dati dyan lang sa may 88 corp center ung office namin e
October 2nd, 2006 at 1:51 pm
bro ferdz! good to hear you’re safe. well, milenyo served as a warning for all of us. one, for the hardheaded billboard companies, sana naman makinig na tayo about the perils lalo na in time of bagyo. two, for most of city-folks who obviously didn’t listen to earthquake-preparedness bulletins; i can see jampacked mini-stop outlets full of people who didn’t heed the warnings and stocked up on food, water, batteries, flashlight, supplies. anyway, tama ka sa tinuran mo, we can look at the other aspects of this event. masuwerte pa nga tayo, we have a shelter to go back to after the storm has passed. and maybe, God was indeed sending us a message thru milenyo.
October 2nd, 2006 at 5:10 pm
ei ferdz,
i readily noticed the place where you took that pic of pancake house
look in my blog a picture of that corner about 2 hours later where a delivery truck overturned right in front of that building
when we decided to go home, i noticed it’s such a great time for photojournalism but i opted just to preserve my phone’s battery which turned out to be a wise decision
glad you’re safe,btw
October 3rd, 2006 at 5:23 pm
ako, naka duty… operational kse kme eh… dito sa work wala namang problema, may generator kme, 3 set of 1 megawatt each… umuwi ako nung thursday night sa haws, ang dilim sa daan, dahan dahan lang ako mag drive, naka high beam nga ako lagi kse may mga puno na nakahambalang sa daan. pagdating ko ng haws, walang tao, brown out. kumuha na lang ako ng kumot at damit ko, bumalik ako sa work at dun ako natulog. naka aircon, may hot water for shower, ano pa ba ang hahanapin ko… hehehehe
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:44 pm
milenyo really hits manila badly. and im so sad to see uprooted trees too. and i think you’re right, it seems to be a wake-up call to all of us.
and im so thankful too that electricity and water is back though some part of the metro has no luck yet.
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:57 pm
I hate Milenyo! Grr…until now wala pa ring kuryente sa lugar namin. masisira na ulo ko! waaahhh….lol.
Anyway, Thank you for visiting my blog. Glod bless!
October 4th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
I guess we all have our own Milenyo experience, hehehehe ;p
October 9th, 2006 at 12:28 am
Nice story… The first picture is really great!
Michael
October 9th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
Galing ng kuha mo…… dramatic. Bagay sa occassion. Yeah Milenyo really hit us bad. Sana d naman maging casualty ang ps2 ko nag submerge kasi sya and d ko pa nabubuksan hanggang ngaun takot ako eh hahaha! jsut droppin by!
October 10th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
Well. The only nice thing is that all those stupid billboards are almost wiped out all of them. I hated them from the start anyway.
July 1st, 2007 at 5:08 pm
napalakas talaga ng bagyo