Typhoon Boom! Makapee's Days #1867

It's Makapee.
For the first time in a while, I felt the threat of nature deep in my bones and realized how small human beings are.

Typhoon No. 26 was even stronger than No. 25, which brought massive damage (over 110 deaths) to the area around Cebu Island last week as a super typhoon, and it passed through the northern part of Ilocos Island, where I am, last night.

Since I am able to write this note now, I am feeling relieved that I am safe.

Last night, since quite strong wind and rain were expected by 9:00 PM, the scheduled time for the typhoon to make landfall on Ilocos Island, I closed the store's shutters earlier than usual at 7:00 PM, put up sheets to prevent water from overflowing from the road, took measures against flooding inside the store, and went home.

The power was still out at home, Glory had gone to the house at the gas station run by her younger sister where her mother is, and Aziz was waiting alone in the middle of the strong wind and rain while the roof leaked.

I mobilized all the basins to deal with the leaks and also checked the Ifugao traditional house where I am, but there were no leaks there.

However, from around 9:00 PM, the wind and rain became violently strong.

I believed that the Ifugao house was a traditional design, a long-legged square pyramid-shaped house that had survived numerous earthquakes and typhoons.

But when I was actually inside it and exposed to the wind and rain of the typhoon like this, that confidence was easily blown away.

Rather than wind, the whole house vibrated with an impact like being slapped in the face with a palm!

After receiving such wave-like attacks for over two hours, at first, thoughts like, "If this house collapses, will I fall straight down and get hurt?" crossed my mind.

But as I gradually got used to it, I fell asleep while thinking, "It would be great if we could scientifically store and utilize this energy well."

I woke up around 2:00 AM, and I could tell through the tin roof that it wasn't a storm outside, but a gentle rain falling.

"I see, the typhoon has moved out to the west coast of Luzon Island," I thought, recalling the chronological typhoon path map from the previous day's weather forecast.

After the typhoon

The intense wind and rain from last night will not be returning.

Phew, I'm glad I'm safe.

When I went outside, the surrounding trees had fallen, and the tables and benches had been overturned.

Oh dear, the papaya tree that was close to harvest has also fallen over, which makes me sad.

At 6 a.m. when the sun came up, Makapee was worried about the pharmacy and went out alone by car.

The first thing that surprised me when I got out onto the road was that a mango tree from within our property had fallen over, covering the road.

The road was full of torn leaves and branches from trees.

Power lines were also snapped and hanging down in various places.

Signs and walls have collapsed.

The corn field that had been growing healthily had been completely mowed down by the strong winds.

When crossing the bridge, muddy water was flowing underneath it.

I drove the car slowly and arrived at the pharmacy, and the first thing I checked was for water overflow.

There were some puddles, but when I opened the door and looked inside the pharmacy, it was safe.

Wow, that was a relief.

I collected the water overflow prevention sheets and the concrete blocks used to hold them down into the car and returned home.

There are power outages everywhere, but I used the car charger to charge my smartphone.

There was a mountain of dishes from yesterday's kitchen work, and I had to squat down and wash them by hand using water pumped up with a hand pump.

Aziz also cleaned up the surroundings, and eventually Glory returned and started the cleanup work.

Hana said she wanted to return to the pharmacy early, so I dropped her off at the pharmacy once, then Makapee returned home, took a shower, and went back to the pharmacy with breakfast made by Aziz.

Janice, who had been off for the two-day weekend, had returned to the store.

The power hasn't been restored yet, but I, Makapee, can feel things gradually returning to normal after the impact of the typhoon.

That's right. We're going to start over again!

This was Makapee.
Thank you for reading until the end♪ Although the full extent of the damage from Typhoon Uwan (No. 26) is not yet known, I can only hope that it is as light as possible.