It’s hard to imagine Artex, a sprawling former factory employee housing compound, the way 30-year-old Nylen Carina or Len describes how it used to look.

"This place was nice. There used to be a playground, a volleyball court, a basketball court, and there were even pine trees. We also played on seeswaws," Len told CGTN.

But rain – an overwhelming amount of rain – in 2004 inundated Artex with flood; since then floodwater never left. The neighborhood already sits in one of the lowest-lying portions of Metro Manila, the Philippines’ sprawling capital, so flooding was already perennial. But a number of other factors combined to make Artex float, if you will.

Len says they used to be able to pump out floodwater, but the machine broke and they couldn’t afford a new one. During 2004’s deluge, a wall collapsed causing even more floodwater to flow into the village. And then, there was simply climate change.

"In the past, storms never caused flooding this huge but recent storms seem to have been stronger, and monsoon rains have caused flooding almost reaching two stories," said Len.

If there is one country that is witness to the extreme effects of climate change, that would be the Philippines.

An average of 20 typhoons hit the country each year. They’ve gotten fiercer, more destructive, and deadlier in recent years. Case in point was 2013’s Super Typhoon Haiyan, locally known as Yolanda.

CGTN was in Palo, Leyte in the Central Philippines when the monster storm hit. The coastal town was one of the most severely affected. We watched the typhoon make landfall from our beachfront hotel. Winds were not just howling; they were roaring. They sent all kinds of debris flying, tore roofs, and downed trees. But the killer was the storm surge. Tall waves that crashed into Palo and other central Philippine communities killed thousands.

Today, most Filipinos heed pre-storm evacuation warnings from local officials almost without hesitation. So while storms still cause extensive damage, fewer casualties have been reported. But that does not mean Filipinos can let their guard down. 

"The rising temperature affects a rising ocean temperature, and so when storms form in the Pacific, they pick up the heat, and that causes a more intense storm when it hits landfall. But climate change overall increases the frequency and intensity of the storm, so it is expected that super typhoons like Haiyan will happen again," Desiree Llanos Dee, Climate Justice Campaigner for Greenpeace Philippines, told CGTN.

The Philippines is also vulnerable to rising heat and the rising sea level. Artex’s ordeal, in fact, is compounded by the latter, according to Llanos Dee.

Carina says despite their new – and harsh – reality, she and her family, and more than a hundred others, have opted to stay.

"We’d have to rent if we were to move out. We can’t afford it. The children are going to school, there’s water, electricity, and all these other things that we have to spend on. Here we don’t have to pay rent," Carina said.

They have no choice but to adjust to their living conditions. They can’t afford a boat, so they put together two big pieces of Styrofoam to serve as their transport. They stand on it and row to the village port to go anywhere and do just about everything, including ironically, collecting something as basic as clean water.

Carina’s children never even knew an Artex that was dry. They never saw a volleyball court, a basketball court, or even one seesaw on a playground.