Lineman Ariel Cañete tries to untangle the wires at the North Reclamation Area in Cebu City. His co-workers were among the survivors of Yolanda at Palo, Leyte. (CDN PHOTO/Junjie Mendoza)
If not for a plastic water jug, 33-year-old Renante Elejorde should have long been dead by now.
The Cebuano lineman and 12 others were marooned inside a two-storey house in Palo town in Leyte when supertyphoon Yolanda unleashed her fury over a wide swath of the Visayas on Nov. 8, 2013.
Elejorde said he has not experienced an ordeal as painful as Yolanda, having seen sea water devour houses and claim lives of several people.
“Wa ko magdahum nga mabuhi pa ko (I didn’t expect to survive),” he said.
He recalls that the water started to rise as early as 7 a.m.
“Nikalit lang gyud og tubo ang dagat. Nagiyahay mig paningkamot pagluwas sa among kaugalingon (The water suddenly rose. Me and my colleagues scrambled to save ourselves),” he said.
Floater
Elejorde said they thought they were already safe when they went to the roof.
But after a few minutes, the raging waters destroyed the entire apartment and swept them away.
“Nabungkag ang balay, unya naanod na mi. Pwerte nakong ampo sa Ginoo. Maayo na lang gani nakakita kog naglutaw nga galon. Mao to ang akong gigunitan aron dili ko malunod (The house collapsed and we were swept away. I kept on praying to God and then I saw a water jug floating nearby. I immediately grabbed the container and used it as a floater),” Elejorde recalled.
Thank God
When the waters subsided, one of his colleagues didn’t make it.
Exactly a year after Yolanda, Elejorde and his companions are back in Cebu City where their company is based.
As the nation marked the tragedy, they were at the North Reclamation Area, working under the heat of the sun.
Told that it was Yolanda’s first anniversary, Elejorde paused for a moment, smiled, and said, “Usa ka tuig naman diay sukad tong hitabo-a noh? Wa ko katuo nga buhi pa ko karon. Salamat sa Ginoo (Isn’t it a year ago today since that supertyphoon? I could not believe that I’m still alive. Thank God).”