For Alma de Asis, it was her strong faith that made her survive typhoon Ursula’s treacherous flash floods that hit a vast farmland in Batad town, Iloilo province on Christmas Day.
“I looked up to the heavens and said: ‘Lord, help me. Give me the strength to survive’. I told myself I will not give up,” recalled a teary-eyed Alma in Filipino.
The 64-year-old spinster and a younger relative were the two survivors when the floods quickly engulfed the De Asis ancestral house in a middle of a rice field of Pasayan village that had a wake for her older brother Alberto.
Killed by Ursula’s flash flood were Alma’s nephew, 40-year-old Roel de Asis Sr. and Roel Sr.’s three children: 14-year-old Rosa, 12-year-old Roel Jr. and three-year-old Rhianna. Roel, who lived in another town, took his three children to Batad to pay respects to his departed father Alberto.
Also killed was 12-year-old Elgie de Asis, Alma’s niece whom she considers as her own child.
According to Alma, they decided to evacuate the house and leave behind Alberto’s casket when the floodwaters started rushing in past 2 a.m. She initially saw Roel Sr. and the three children wade through the floodwaters, but then lost sight of them.
Alma also recalled how she could not do anything to save Elgie, who was swept by the floodwaters’ strong current and was yelling “Mama! Mama”.
“It was so dark. I couldn’t see her. But if there was light, [I knew I could rescue her]…I know how to swim even if I’m already an elderly person,” Alma said while crying.
Alma later managed to climb a nearby Madre de Cacao tree and cling to its branch for almost three hours. She was rescued by relatives during daybreak.
“I told myself I will not let go and have to rescue my own self. It was God who helped me,” added Alma.
Aside from Alma, 10-year-old relative Freddie Diel also survived Ursula’s floods. The boy was swept towards a separate tree, where he clung until he was rescued.
Many residents of Batad and neighboring Balasan said how Ursula’s floods took them by surprise.
They were warned of storm surges based on what happened in the area during November 2013’s super typhoon Yolanda. However, they did not anticipate that Ursula would create such a havoc. (Tara Yap)
