The roads leading to our store were all impassable yesterday as flood waters have still not subsided. So it was not until today that we were able to brave through the muddy streets of Marcos Highway, to get to Blue Wave at Sumulong. The scene was like something from an end-of-the-world movie where you see cars left on the streets in all sorts of positions with no drivers.
Our store was a mess. Mud was everywhere and the smell was just plain awful. All the kitchen equipment from the mixers, rollers, to the really big ones like the freezers and ovens, were not spared.
The smell of rotten food mixed with mud and used oil that overflowed back from our grease trap. The Coke chiller and even our big freezer at the back were completely toppled. The electronic circuitry inside our very expensive ovens were completely fried.
The crew at the store last Sept 26 were able to bring up to the 2nd floor some of the expensive raw materials like cheese, but they eventually spoiled anyway because there was no electricity. The mall was like a ghost town with all the stores sharing in the same predicament. Our neighbors Starbucks and KFC were just as bad, if not worse.
The mall's water supply was contaminated so they could not provide water to even let us clean up the place. We had no choice but to shuttle back-and-forth between the house and the store to bring in gallons of water to wash out the debris inside the store.
If our store was badly hit, the houses along Tumana were even worse off. Judging from the water stain and the state they were in, water must have reached the second floor of the houses there. It was just mud everywhere and people had nothing to eat.
The first floor of Ethan's school, LINKS, just along the river was also completely submerged. So if you look at the photo below, you can imagine how high the water must have rose.
Even though its hard to think of a reason to be thankful for at this state, one only needs to see how worse off a lot of other people were in order to appreciate what one still has -- our house was relatively unscathed; the store can be rebuilt and is covered by insurance; our cars were not affected while a lot of others were submerged; and we are still alive!
No comments:
Post a Comment