Ushering in the New Year went pfft (at least in my household) as I was in bed before the year ended and got awakened only by firecrackers in the neighborhood at midnight. It soon passed when it started drizzling and after video chatting with my sons to wish them well, back to bed I went, happy to drift off while watching Netflix.
The morning after, I woke up watching the flood stories unfold in Talisay City all the way to Victorias City and group chats were afire as to who among our families and friends got affected.
It was sad to start the year getting kicked out of your homes to run for safer grounds and seeing the evacuation process and the clean-up on the first day of the year was just the pits.
We have this tradition to ensure our homes are spick and span, believing that cleanliness brings in good luck. To have that drown out by muddy waters would have been imaginable to many but at least, as of this writing, we can heave some sighs that no lives were lost.
The damage though may be extensive, not just for businesses and homes but also for agricultural crops, livestock, and other industries that operate in that part of the province.
I called up a family friend to check on their conditions as they live in Canetown in Victorias City. Luckily, they were out of town, spending New Year in the south where ironically, they said it did not rain, as it did here in Bacolod and the northern part of the province.
Canetown is a low-lying area but the sugar mill which is in higher grounds was not spared as well as I saw pictures posted of murky water invading their offices.
As surmised, the flooding was caused by heavy rains that met up with high tide, according to Zephard Caelian of the province’s disaster management group.
Victorias Mayor Wantan Palanca was quoted in a report that the city even went through with their fireworks display and were caught by surprise when water came rushing in just after midnight.
I guess, to some extent, we can be thankful that most stayed up late beyond midnight to join the revelry. It would have been worse if people were safely cocooned in their beds, not knowing the tragedy caused by rushing waters.
The flood sparked conversations as well when our family got together for our traditional New Year’s lunch. One niece who stayed up way into the wee hours of the morning said that it was around 3:00 AM when heavy rains dumped in Bacolod thus she decided to stay over in a friend’s house as it would have been impossible to drive around by then.
I could not add anything into the conversation except show them pictures posted online of the extent of the flood as I did not even hear the rain pounding that night.
Over lunch, our talks drifted to how this was probably the New Year’s celebration wherein we did not reach our usual 40 plus relatives gathering for our tradition. We did not even reach half of that! But despite it all, we are still thankful that no one in our family has been affected by COVID-19 and we continue to pray that none will, especially those who are in the health sector.
Politics is a much talked-about topic in our family as well but this time, with some of our more opinionated siblings away, we had a laugh in connecting this year’s colors of yellow and gray to the outcome of the political landscape in the country.
Yellow was of course attributed to the Liberal Party of Vice President Leni Robredo and since I was in yellow, I was happy to be teased a yellowtard. Well, that was better than being branded a Dutertard. A brother-in-law is, but he knows his place in our family and contented not to engage us in politics knowing he will never attain peace ever.
Gray, well politically, that’s the skin color of the president and how his administration of our nation has just turned this country into that sullen mood. Google described the color gray as an emotionless, moody color that is typically associated with meanings of dull, dirty, and dingy. Uh, such an apt description.
Articles about this year’s colors chosen by the Pantone Color Institute calls it the ‘ultimate’ gray and ‘illuminating’ yellow, both of which represent strength, resilience, and nature.
This pairing, according to Pantone, conjures “deeper feelings of thoughtfulness with the optimistic promise of a sunshine-filled day.”
I am not one to go for colors and I only have three yellow tops in my closet. But if that prediction holds true, I may well just add more yellows in my wardrobe if it helps getting us out of this quagmire and on to a brighter future.
On with the yellow, out with the gray! Happy New Year everyone!*