🇵🇭 BANTAY • Submerged in MUD floods: a Face of Resilience

"I saw the residents bathed in mud, while they tried to scavenge what's left. Their motorcycles, cars, appliances, and furniture were all flooded and fell into disrepair."

• The typhoon is over, but the cleaning needs to continue for few more days to weeks.

• Majority of the people in Metro Vigan were already dry, yet the residents near the Roxas Dike were still dealing with the mud and the disasters it caused.

🇵🇭 BANTAY, ILOCOS SUR, PHILIPPINES

On 2023-July-28, I roamed around Vigan to document the aftermath of the typhoon Egay. My province was devastated massively, but I could only document some areas that were easier to access in my case. The first thing that came to my mind was the Roxas Dike in Bantay Ilocos Sur, a stone throw away from Vigan.

There are both residential and business areas at this dike. Unfortunately, the residential community here is situated in a low-lying location. Their residential community is a flood catchment and a floodway of the Govantes River.

 ►  Mad in Mud

It was disheartening to see the people of Roxas Dike suffering the aftermath. In their case, their aftermath was to deal with the mud that submerged their homes.

As I entered the Roxas Dike Bridge, I saw their houses wrapped in mud. While vehicles started to crowd the Roxas Dike Road (Rizal Street) again—slowly turning the busy street back into its usual function—the residents at the dike were still trying to figure out how to clean the mess caused by the super typhoon.

🇵🇭 BANTAY • The area I visited is wrapped in green borders.

This area is very much familiar to me. The growing economy of Bantay has given the residents with more options to grow their income—like putting up small to medium-sized enterprises that would cater to the growing business activities nearby that brought more daytime population in their area. This area is typically joyful yet fierce. It is the face of disaster resilience in Metro Vigan due to the existing living hazards that they can always shrug off. In this visit, the mood had a touch of despair; but the unwavering spirit was very evident.

I noticed that the road shoulders were filled with objects that looked like trash. As I approached the residential area, it was unfortunate to see that those objects dumped on the road used to be functional and useful materials pre-flood, until they were submerged in mud.

🇵🇭 BANTAY • Various objects submerged in mud floods were dumped beside the road after the typhoon.

🇵🇭 BANTAY • It seemed like there's no sense saving some of these objects anymore when the mud devalued them. Look at the house beside the road. The roof is almost at the same level as the road. Despite being a floodway, the residents at the Roxas Dike in Bantay were committed to stay.

I saw the residents bathed in mud, while they tried to scavenge what's left. Their motorcycles, cars, appliances, and furniture were all flooded and fell into disrepair.

I talked to some of the residents if I could take photos of them, and they agreed. I also took videos. Someone, a young gentleman, asked me where I will use these videos. He was busy sorting out and cleaning the materials they recovered. I said, "for my vlog." He asked the name of my vlog, and he agreed to appear in my video. You can check the YouTube vlog of this visit at the end of this article.

🇵🇭 BANTAY • The typhoon is over, but the cleaning needs to continue for a few more days to weeks.

🇵🇭 BANTAY • This must be traumatic if it happened to our own household. Thank God, we were spared from this kind of mud flood.

🇵🇭 BANTAY • This kid tried to scavenge what's left.

🇵🇭 BANTAY • Living near the dike and the Govantes River, these residents knew what they were facing. However, the supertyphoon was something they couldn't stop. Their survival techniques were not enough to shield them from the supertyphoon.

🇵🇭 BANTAY • The residents were able to save some useful stuff.

🇵🇭 BANTAY • Majority of people in Metro Vigan were already dry, yet the residents near the Roxas Dike were still dealing with mud.

🇵🇭 BANTAY • This man tried to save some materials that could still be recovered.

 ►  Check the YouTube version of this post.

You can also check the YouTube version of my visit in Roxas Dike in Bantay, Ilocos Sur 2 days after the onslaught of the supertyphoon Egay. You may help support my content creation by simply subscribing, leaving an inspiring feedback/comment, or liking my YouTube videos. 💚

 ►  Ending Thoughts

I'm writing this line on 08/04/2023 at 08:31 PM. Nine (9) days after the onslaught, I still haven't finished writing this one. I was very busy and tired from other commitments: family and professional.

The reason I was urged to finish this post is to move forward in blogging my other materials not related to typhoon Egay. I need to finish the typhoon Egay backlogs, so that I can move forward in blogging my other materials. I hope you liked my web contents. 😉😊 • END OF STORY


LATEST STORIES COVERING [BANTAY] | SEE ALL IN A SEPARATE WINDOW

MORE RELATED BLOGS YOU MIGHT LIKE. SEE TABS BELOW.

▼ ILOCOS SUR ▼ SPECIAL FEATURES ▼ FEATURE POSTS

 ►  More 'Ilocos Sur' Blogs

MORE STORIES COVERING ILOCOS SUR | SEE OLDER STORIES

 ►  More 'Special Features' Blogs

MORE STORIES COVERING PUBLIC MARKETS | SEE OLDER STORIES

 ►  More 'Feature Posts' Blogs

MORE STORIES COVERING "FEATURE POSTS" | SEE OLDER STORIES

MORE TOWNS OR LOCATIONS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO EXPLORE:

SC V IS L HK M QC SD B P

UPDATE HISTORY FOR THIS BLOG POST
• 2023-August-05:
   08:00 PM — Lay-out for the "More Towns or Locations You Might Like to Explore" was modified.
   09:58 PM — Twitter meta tagas added.
• 2023-August-04: This post was published.