Chilling in the Philippines--HAIYAN

November 09, 2013

WHEW what a long week.  This was I guess a once in a lifetime experience, but I hope this is the only time.

Monday or so I saw that a Typhoon was on its way and the Philippines was in the path. Haiyan is the international name, locally she was called Yolanda.  It looked as if Yolanda was going to go straight over central Philippines, which was already reeling from a 7.1 earthquake a few weeks ago.

Definition time--Per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) "Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon; we just use different names for these storms in different places. In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term “hurricane” is used. The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a “typhoon” and “cyclones” occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

The ingredients for these storms include a pre-existing weather disturbance, warm tropical oceans, moisture, and relatively light winds. If the right conditions persist long enough, they can combine to produce the violent winds, incredible waves, torrential rains, and floods we associate with this phenomenon."

Now, living in Iowa most of my life, I know how to deal with storms. The sirens go off -- duck for cover. Big snow is coming (maybe it does, maybe it doesn't) set out the shovel. It is weird being in the path of the storm 3 days away that is so big that course is not changing a whole lot nor is it likely going to dissipate over the ocean.  Suzy and I did our best guess on the path. We figured we were in the way, but not in immediate danger. Suzy, though had employees in Cebu who were more in the danger path... so she had to make sure they were all safe. Typhoons occur often (about 20 a year) and the locals do what they can to prepare. This isn't their first rodeo, even if this is the largest typhoon in history. 

When snow is going to hit in Iowa, It is an all out media blitz.  People run to the stores, stock up on supplies and generally act as if the apocalypse is upon us all.  I am guilty.  We may have a full freezer and pantry, but Holy heck-- we may be snowed in for TWO days so I better get to Hy-Vee and buy some bread, milk and water.  Here-- nope. A lot of people get food for the day. I do a lot of daily shopping-- its easy when the grocery store is 100 yards away. But with the storm on its way-- No real difference. Just me, getting bread and water (can't trust the milk yet).

Thursday I stocked up and prepared for the rain... Now it rains often this time of year and without warning anyway. Dry season starts next month. But when it started raining I was prepared. The other typhoon that hit, Usagi (aka Odette) a month ago knocked power out a little and cable.  It was a category 5. I was ready now. I had a flashlight holstered and made sure Vince was taken out so he wouldn't want to piddle during a deluge.

The rain was survivable and when I woke up Friday, Yolanda was announcing her presence with Authority.  She was hammering the Central Islands.  The storm was about 1200 miles long and massively wide so we were going to get some backlash. Friday day it drizzled and was just an eerie gray out all day. I took out Vinny around 430  and thank goodness as right after sporadic torrential rain would hit.  It was like a wave... pouring rain... drizzle... poring rain... drizzle.  Suzy left for work and the wind started whipping up. The rain stayed at a drizzle with 70 mph winds.  It was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

We made it through the night... Vinny did not like the incessant rattling of the windows. Either did I, for that matter.  Suzy got home and collectively I let out a HUGE sigh of relief.  I knew the worst was probably over and we were all going to be fine...All of Suzy's employees were accounted for. The winds stayed crazy until about 5 pm and there were a couple periods of rain. 24 hours of extremely strong winds... No real damage-- some of the palm trees lost leaves, the lamppost by our balcony got a little tilty but it can be fixed.  We really saw not a lot of local structural damage.  Since this is a newer area, I am sure that the engineering to safeguard against mother nature played a huge role. We have not toured Manila yet to see how the other areas fared. From the looks on tv, not as well.  We were lucky.  I do want to thank EVERYONE for their thoughts and prayers.  When Suzy accepted the move, we knew what we signed up for. I maybe didn't realize we would survive the strongest typhoon in history, but we thank everyone for taking a moment to check on us, to read our updates and to offer encouragement.

This certainly has been a life changing first couple months for me. One learns a lot about themselves when they are in an unfamiliar area experiencing new things. I've made a couple new friends and been able to see things that just aren't in Iowa. One of the servers from Fridays is moving to Canada.  I was excited to tell him about snow and to dress warm.  Literally he doesn't know what 59 degrees Fahrenheit feels like.  Or snow.  He will.

Thanks again everyone for your thoughts and prayers. our thoughts go to all of the locals who are coping with loss of loved one and/or loss of property.  I hope we never have to live through something like that again, but if we do... I will be prepared.