1921 Philippine Money (Family Collection) Rediscovered Because of the Floods.

Obverse:  5 Pesos circa 1921 (American regime) issued by the Philippine National Bank.

Reverse:  literally wiped-out.  In close up, some characters are still recognizable, though.

Is there anything good that came out of the recently atrocious event which can only be depicted by grotesque scenes of waist-deep floods brought about by the "enhanced" southwest monsoon that hit Metro Manila?  Could you think of one?  Was there any silver lining?  For me, there's one.  My mom "rediscovered" these really old Philippine paper bills from my grandfather's collection!  Yey!

Video Update on the Flood in Sandoval Ave. in Pasig City as of 6 p.m., Saturday, 11 August 2012.

As promised, here are the videos of the flood in Sandoval Avenue that I took while riding the yellow dump truck (for free, yey!).  The videos are shaky but YouTube did some "fixing".  They are now "tolerable".  I had a migraine while watching the raw clips.  LOL!  At least, I think, you can endure these videos now.  Can I say, "enjoy the videos"?  I guess not.  LOL!

Photo Updates on the Flood in Sandoval Ave. in Pasig City as of 6 p.m., Saturday, 11 August 2012

As of 6 p.m., 11 August 2012 - flood in Sandoval Ave. is still widespread;  ankle-deep to half-a-tire-deep.

Oh, boy!  There's no more food inside the refrigerator.  Our week's supply - gone!  Well, there's still instant noodles.  But with "preservatives enough to put a horse to sleep" (unverified - LOL), I would not dare test that notion by eating instant noodles morning, noon, and night.  So, I have to go outside and buy food.  I will once again, with all splendor, ride the yellow garbage truck!  Reminiscent of the good old Ketsana days, I guess this would be fun!

Ordinary People in Extraordinary Times - Portrait of the Southwest Monsoon Floods

Our lives are shaped by the tiny hurdles we overcome in our daily grind.  We are unaware but we are actually sharpened, strengthened, and polished.  It's the giant hurdle that creeps like a thief in the night that measures our worth!

Video Updates on the Flood in Sandoval Ave. in Pasig City, as of 6 p.m., 10 August 2012

Palmdale Heights Condominium along Sandoval Avenue, Pasig City
- ankle-deep flood

It seems that Pasig City would again be the last city to recover from these floods.  (The last time was in 2009 with typhoon Ketsana / Ondoy.  The city took a whole month before the floods were completely pumped out and gone.)  While some areas in Manila that had more than 15-feet of flood water (such as the Lagusnilad tunnel and the Quiapo-Recto underpass) are now open to traffic, a lot of communities in Pasig City situated near the floodway and Laguna de Bay are still drenched in flood water.

How Much Rainfall Was There From This FREAK Southwest Monsoon?

According to the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) tweet (5:40pm), the place shown in the picture above, in front of SM Sta. Mesa in Manila, the waters have risen to more than 6 feet ("lampas-tao") already.

Just how much rainfall did we experience in the last 24 hours?  According to GMA 7's Mang Tani (i.e., Nathaniel Cruz, resident expert meteorologist), we just experienced in the last 24 hours a 324-mm. of rainfall.  The normal rainfall for a whole month (for August) is said to be about 504 mm.  In just 24 hours, we had more than half of what we usually get in 30 days!