Typhoon Glenda

Monday, July 14th I received a text message from my sons preschool.   

"Good afternoon.  Rizal was placed under Storm Signal #1 a while ago.  Because of this 2:30-5 classes for today, July 14 are suspended.  FYI"

I was surprised to get that text because it was sunny and nice out.  Then I learned what the storm signals mean.

• #1 - Tropical cyclone winds of 30 km/h (19 mph) to 60 km/h (37 mph) are expected within the next 36 hours. (Note: Preschools are closed under signal #1)
• #2 - Tropical cyclone winds of 60 km/h (37 mph) to 100 km/h (62 mph) are expected within the next 24 hours. (Note: Preschools, Elementary Schools and High Schools are closed)
• #3 - Tropical cyclone winds of 100 km/h (62 mph) to 185 km/h (115 mph) are expected within the next 18 hours. (Note: Preschool through Universities are closed.)
• #4 - Tropical cyclone winds of greater than 185 km/h (115 mph) are expected within 12 hours

The rest of the day on Monday was dry and ordinary.  The threat of a storm didn't seem to be anywhere in sight.  But weather reports were predicting the storm would be a signal #2 in our area and arrive about 9pm Tuesday and leave by 12 noon Wednesday.  So we enjoyed the day off from school for the boys and even went over to our friends house for dinner later that night.

As we went to bed Monday night we could hear the rains start.  Allan and I didn't get much sleep that night because the rain was so loud it kept us up.  (Well that mixed with a little anticipation and excitment of experiencing our first typhoon.) 

The power went out about 5am on Tuesday morning.  We all woke up and spent the morning hours watching the powerful wind and heavy rains fall.  The item we watched the most was this tree in front of our house.  I took a picture of it the day before.  Here is a before and after picture.

Before:

After:

Inside the protection of a well built house the typhoon just seemed like a big storm.  Especially cut off from electricity and news reports.  But the typhoon did give us a start when the double doors flew open!  Allan acted fast and tied them shut with some rope.

Even the birds knew that they needed to seek shelter in this storm.

I learned quickly that the actually storm itself isn't really the biggest impact, instead it is the lasting impact of the damage it leaves behind as a result.  Our friends who we had dinner with the night before were trapped in their house because the street outside their house was flooded.

Its Friday morning as I type up this post and we haven't had electricity at our house since 5am Tuesday.  We heard that 80% of electricity is back up throughout Metro Manila. But ours it probably out since there were several trees that fell on power lines in our neighborhood. We also learned that once the typhoon hit our area it had grown to a signal #3 strength.

 

Life is a lot more slower, simpler and stress free in many ways without electricity.  We didn't have to be concerned about much.  Boys had fun playing with play-dough.  I made a lot of play-dough "airplanes".  Looks like I am not taking up any sculpture jobs anytime soon.

Allan and I enjoyed each others company and contemplated how much the typhoon brought out the flies, cause his homemade mosquito trap really was catching lots of flies!
Before

After

Then night came and we pulled out the candles and flashlights.  We decorated in glow sticks for night lights and all slept in one room and Daddy read the boys with the flashlight.  The boys thought it was great fun.

But then the next day we had to leave our home because a couple of our utility bills were due and you have to pay in cash at a payment center.  There are payment centers at the mall.  So we headed to the mall to pay our bills.  When we got there I was surprised to see the mall resemble an airport.  People were grouped around all the outlets in the mall charging all their electronic devices.

Business was good for the mall that day.  They brought out all their candles and flashlights and displayed them at the front of their store.

Well power is being restored to most of the city and everyone is working hard cleaning up all of the debris from fallen trees and the damage that resulted.  We ended our third night after the typhoon by playing "Goldilocks".  We are currently living in the house of one of our teammates as they are on furlough.  But since they didn't have power, we house-hopped our way over to our other teammates house who also is home on a short trip, since they have power at their house and it was empty.  I really do fell like Goldilocks and the three bears, sleeping in all of our friends beds.  ha ha.... it is kinda fun!  We have one more teammate we haven't "Goldilocked" their house yet.  Hmmm... perhaps next time. :)