[soccerjoe5]

Hey guys, many thanks for the concern. Thankfully, my area hasn't been affected. I was at a food shoot for a favorite restaurant of mine the whole time it was storming. It was on the third floor, we had power, and loads of food. I was quite oblivious to the whole situation until I stepped out for a break.

Other areas were hit REALLY bad. The bay area around Laguna is already uninhabitable, more than half a million folks had to move out. Areas around Marikina are still flooded, even if it's been more than 2 weeks since the storm.

A few friends of mine were hit real bad, their entire first floors were flooded and they had to take refuge in their upper floors. Some had to take refuge on their roofs. We had an entire month's amount of rainfall in a few hours. The water rose up to neck high in some areas in as fast as 40 minutes. Some major roads became rapids with strong currents and a lot of debris. A lot of people drowned.

My sister was trapped in a mall for 30 hours, with 7 of her friends and 15 young kids were in their responsibility. It wasn't a very nice mall, not the nice one you'd like to be stranded in. They were on their way to a camp when the floods got them. They had to abandon their bus and take refuge in the mall. There were 150 other people there and they were all scrambling for food and supplies. It was a mob. My sister had to barter for food with some establishments because they were closing due to the mob. The water outside was terrible, some people tried to swim out and they drowned in the current. My sister had to be rescued via helicopter and rubber boats.

The photos taken by my friends for Reuters were amazing, terrifying and heartbreaking. Take a look here to see how bad our country was hit: The Big Picture at Typhoon Ketsana

I'm really thankful my loved ones are safe. Thank you all for the concern, it means a lot.

Diego

[res3567]

Glad you are OK! I was starting to get REALLY worried!

[soccerjoe5]

Just to share: I was doing relief and volunteer work last week at places that were neck high in water with my girl. Guys, it was like Venice with brown water and trash. It was eerie, quiet, and FLOODED. I was in a makeshift raft to get around.

I just got word that the water still hasn't gone down and the whole area was evacuated because the water turned black already and it's now a hazardous place.

[res3567]

Diego PLEASE BE CAREFULL!

[jsherman999]

Hey guys, many thanks for the concern. Thankfully, my area hasn't been affected. I was at a food shoot for a favorite restaurant of mine the whole time it was storming. It was on the third floor, we had power, and loads of food. I was quite oblivious to the whole situation until I stepped out for a break.

Other areas were hit REALLY bad. The bay area around Laguna is already uninhabitable, more than half a million folks had to move out. Areas around Marikina are still flooded, even if it's been more than 2 weeks since the storm.

A few friends of mine were hit real bad, their entire first floors were flooded and they had to take refuge in their upper floors. Some had to take refuge on their roofs. We had an entire month's amount of rainfall in a few hours. The water rose up to neck high in some areas in as fast as 40 minutes. Some major roads became rapids with strong currents and a lot of debris. A lot of people drowned.

My sister was trapped in a mall for 30 hours, with 7 of her friends and 15 young kids were in their responsibility. It wasn't a very nice mall, not the nice one you'd like to be stranded in. They were on their way to a camp when the floods got them. They had to abandon their bus and take refuge in the mall. There were 150 other people there and they were all scrambling for food and supplies. It was a mob. My sister had to barter for food with some establishments because they were closing due to the mob. The water outside was terrible, some people tried to swim out and they drowned in the current. My sister had to be rescued via helicopter and rubber boats.

The photos taken by my friends for Reuters were amazing, terrifying and heartbreaking. Take a look here to see how bad our country was hit: The Big Picture at Typhoon Ketsana

I'm really thankful my loved ones are safe. Thank you all for the concern, it means a lot.

Diego

Glad everything's OK with your sister at least. That must have been terrifying in that mall, mob situations are not fun... Nice to hear from you Diego.

[Ratmagiclady]

Yay, Diego. Glad to hear you and your house and family came through OK.

Careful out there in the floodwaters if you're doing any more relief work, especially of submerged debris and infections.

From what I've seen, it looks pretty daunting.

[Eaglerapids]

Thank goodness you and your loved ones are OK Diego, we were worried and best wishes for you all to get back to a normal life. That was some scary stuff.

[reeftool]

I'm glad you're ok Diego. I saw those pictures, really horrible damage. All of you will be in our prayers.