I can’t forget that fateful day of Nov. 5, 1991 when Ormoc was visited by Typhoon Uring and caused a major devastation in the city proper of Ormoc, a flashflood, instantly killing about 4,000 to 6,000 of the Ormoc populace and placing Ormoc City in the international limelight.
I was still single and a classroom teacher of Libertad Elementary School at that time. We had to go home due to the very bad weather. It was really a blessing on my side because it was only minutes after we passed through the bridge in Cogon highway, when the bridge was cut and was swept away by the current, taking with it many cars and people on the bridge. At home, while the water was still ankle-deep, my mother and I easily transported a sack of rice to the second floor. I also helped my pregnant sister climb the stairs to the second floor, when suddenly the water rose to a depth of 8 feet inside our house. I experienced swimming inside our sala and being hit with different floating objects. The flashflood lasted only for about 30 minutes; however, the damage was immense.
Jesusa A. Eslopor
1991 FLASH FLOOD
November 7, 2017 at 10 in the evening, I received a long distance call from my brother in Bicol urging me to pack up and move to a higher ground because of the threat of a possible storm surge. However, I was very adamant to his suggestions because it was really not that easy to evacuate together with my sick mother. True enough, the typhoon came at about 6am of November 8 and the electricity was then cut-off. The blowing and howling of the wind lasted for about 2 hours and then stopped. They thought that, that was it, that the typhoon was then over. I told them that according to the advisory, Typhoon Yolanda would pass by Ormoc at around 9am and true enough at 9am, the sky suddenly darkened and I started listening to the eerie howling of the very strong wind. Water started pouring in some areas of our ceiling and I have to move my mother from her room to the sala where I kept watch at her while I was also dumping a cloth to the water that seeped in the floor. Very strong wind and rain continuously blew everywhere and I can hear roofs and window blades smashing. My mother who was lying on the sofa was calmly reciting the Holy rosary and I, on the other hand never said any other words except to give direct instructions to my children and to chant the phrase, “Mama Mary cover us with your mantle of protection”. At about 1pm, the strong wind ceased and when we went outside, we were very fortunate that our house was still very much intact except for the broken jalousie blades, while the rest of my neighbors were left roofless.
Jesusa A. Eslopor
TYPHOON YOLANDA
I was in my office working or encoding a report when suddenly the electricity was cut-off. Then after a minute it light up again. And without any warning, the ground started to shake. I thought it would stop however it continued to shake and a strong shake at that. I started to run out of the office in time also to stop the children who were also very panicked-stricken, crying and shouting for help. As the School Head, I started to go around and monitor groups who were still ducking on the ground.
When I reached home, I was very thankful that only few vases were broken and there were no major damages to the house.
Jesusa A. Eslopor
2017 EARTHQUAKE
