Yesterday’s commute to our home was much longer than usual. It took us around 2 hours to get home even after leaving our office around 6PM. We experienced the wake or aftermath of congestion caused mainly by the flash floods and electrical damage to the LRT Line 2. The flash floods were caused by the intense rains after noon time. Floods were reported around Metro Manila but the one that ultimately affected us were the flood along Ortigas Avenue Extension near the Valley Golf gate. A long stretch was impassable to most vehicles. Our daughter got home 2.5 hours after her school dismissal when it usually only took around 1 hour on typical mid afternoon traffic along that corridor. The route we took home via Marcos Highway was affected by so many passengers getting stranded by the Line 2’s suspension of services between Santolan and Antipolo Stations. People occupied the traffic lanes of Marcos Highway as they positioned themselves to get to the next available jeepney or bus. Many chose to walk towards Ligaya and even Sta. Lucia Mall where many jeepneys bound for Rizal towns turnaround.

Line 2 suspended operations between Santolan and Antipolo Stations due to electrical damage sustained after a lightning strike damaged the catenary that transmitted power to the trains.

Passengers occupied the traffic lanes of Marcos Highway; many already tired from a day’s work or school. LRTA did not seem to have a plan or protocol to address such situations. Perhaps a call to bus companies or even the MMDA and LGUs like Antipolo, Cainta, Marikina and Pasig could have alleviated the situation of commuters? Antipolo did send vehicles to ferry passengers but they were not enough for the demand. These are exactly the situations that make public transportation unattractive to many people.

I hope we’ve (read: authorities including national and local governments) learned from this year’s weather-related problems and will address these so we can have less disruptions and losses in the coming years. It is predicted that we will have an intense El Niño so that means a long dry spell and also hotter days ahead. Perhaps nature’s message this year is that there’s enough water (from rain) and she is challenging us to come up with a system and facilities that will retain such amounts of water for the dry seasons?

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