Typhoon time again

[Colsie]

As another cat 5 bears down on the Philippines my thoughts are with the people that will have to endure the next few hours and the devasting aftermath for weeks and months too come. 

In 2019 after going overseas on holiday for 9 weeks, I came back in December only to experience a typhoon Ursula on Christmas eve. 

Living in a small wooden house that I had built, it was truly terrifying and weeks afterwards without power, Internet or even water were miserable. Not a great Christmas or start to 2020. 

It seems to me that typhoons here are getting more frequent with more cat 5 that seem to strengthen so quickly from a tropical storm or cat 1.

It's a tough call for a foreigner when you have a day or so to decide whether to stay or go. 

What would you do? 

Edited September 25, 2022 by Colsie

[BrettGC]

Our place in Guihulgnan survived the the typhoon in December last year, but they were a month without power and about 6 weeks with no internet.  TBH, it we have another like that we'll probably find somewhere to stay while the infrastructure is repaired.  I enjoy my somewhat simple life in the province but that does have its limits.   We would of course return though.  To their credit, the local authorities took the opportunity to upgrade power lines etc as soon as they could after the last one.  

I wasn't here but my wife, niece and mother-in-law were and they were terrified - this from a family that has spent their entire lives with extreme weather - and I didn't hear from them directly for a week so I was a little panicked.   My wife jumped on a bus north until  she could get a data signal to allay my fears.  The only damage to the house was some damage under the eaves but there were some around us that were severely damaged, none to the point of demolition but some were close.  No loss of life in my area thankfully.   

If one is going to track over us again like in December last year, I'd pack the family up and go and return when the roads were clear; given enough notice of course.    

[Jollygoodfellow]

7 hours ago, Colsie said:

What would you do? 

Depends on what place I would be living.  I'm in a condo so its better to stay. When the typhoon hit in December there was damage to the building but did not affect us. Back up power for the first few days then reduced to schedule times but better than nothing. Many other issues for sometime after that but still a safe place to stay.

I remember that night very well, the noise and destruction and pitied those in houses and more so those in shantie areas. Personally if I lived in a timber type house I think it would be better to shelter somewhere else. In my area the Ayala underground carpark was open and maybe part of the mall to shelter for those who needed it so would have been a good place to be in that case.

[OnMyWay]

9 hours ago, Colsie said:

It seems to me that typhoons here are getting more frequent with more cat 5

They changed the categories this year so it is easier to be a cat 5.

[BrettGC]

6 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

They changed the categories this year so it is easier to be a cat 5.

True, but 185kph still isn't anything to be sneezed at.  

[Mike J]

17 hours ago, Colsie said:

What would you do? 

Moalboal was in the direct path and so we were absolutely battered from both directions by extreme wind, rain, and salt water blown in from the ocean.  What would/will we do?  Unfortunately our choices are limited.  We have four dogs, a cat, and my mother-in-law lives about 2 km away.  She has been bed ridden for seven years (stroke survivor) and needs 24x7 care.  So we would probably ride it out again, but we have learned from the experience, made changes, and would prepare differently.

Becasue of damage from the Christmas typhoon we have a new roof.  The new roofing is longspan and the underlying wood structure has been replaced with steel struts.  The steel struts are welded into the rebar of the concrete walls.  We now have a 9KW electric start generator, overkill for just us, but it will also help support close neigbors in our compound.  We have a small solar setup sufficient to charge cell phones and pads/readers.  We had cut down two large trees a year prior to the typhoon and the typhoon took down four more that we did not realize were a danger.  Fortunately the four trees that fell came very close but did little damage.  Two missed the house by inches, one just missed the car, and one fell just short of our water tank and booster pump.   We keep a moderate amount of bottled water and packaged food on hand.  The strength and path of a typhoon are usually fairly accurate and would give us time to increase our supply of food, water, cash, etc.  Also time to clean up or secure any items that may become a flying hazard.  Our long term plans include a five to seven KW off grid solar system because of frequent brown outs and the high, and getting higher, electric rates.

Edit - the mother-in-laws house suffered no damage at all so we would probably shelter there during a major typhoon.

 

 

[BrettGC]

8 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Moalboal was in the direct path and so we were absolutely battered from both directions by extreme wind, rain, and salt water blown in from the ocean.  What would/will we do?  Unfortunately our choices are limited.  We have four dogs, a cat, and my mother-in-law lives about 2 km away.  She has been bed ridden for seven years (stroke survivor) and needs 24x7 care.  So we would probably ride it out again, but we have learned from the experience, made changes, and would prepare differently.

Becasue of damage from the Christmas typhoon we have a new roof.  The new roofing is longspan and the underlying wood structure has been replaced with steel struts.  The steel struts are welded into the rebar of the concrete walls.  We now have a 9KW electric start generator, overkill for just us, but it will also help support close neigbors in our compound.  We have a small solar setup sufficient to charge cell phones and pads/readers.  We had cut down two large trees a year prior to the typhoon and the typhoon took down four more that we did not realize were a danger.  Fortunately the four trees that fell came very close but did little damage.  Two missed the house by inches, one just missed the car, and one fell just short of our water tank and booster pump.   We keep a moderate amount of bottled water and packaged food on hand.  The strength and path of a typhoon are usually fairly accurate and would give us time to increase our supply of food, water, cash, etc.  Also time to clean up or secure any items that may become a flying hazard.  Our long term plans include a five to seven KW off grid solar system because of frequent brown outs and the high, and getting higher, electric rates.

Edit - the mother-in-laws house suffered no damage at all so we would probably shelter there during a major typhoon.

 

 

how long did you guys lose power for Mike?  I'm curious as you're close to us just across the water and I could probably see your place if I had binoculars.  

[RBM]

18 hours ago, Colsie said:

As another cat 5 bears down on the Philippines my thoughts are with the people that will have to endure the next few hours and the devasting aftermath for weeks and months too come. 

 

What would you do? 

My answer  to this is, before deciding to settle here think carefully where, try to choose a location not overly exposed to these elements.

Used to spend a lot of time in Legazpi City loved the place and of course beautiful Mayon. Was carefully considering to live there, how ever after experiencing a couple of typhoons decided no. Was the most pleasant city to ride, drive, in that I had experienced. 

[Mike J]

1 minute ago, BrettGC said:

how long did you guys lose power for Mike?  I'm curious as you're close to us just across the water and I could probably see your place if I had binoculars.  

Going off memory but I think it was a little over six weeks for us.  Others in Moalboal took longer.  It was months until we had any cell service or internet access which meant no ATMs and you could not do banking.  We had to travel to Carcar or Dumaguete to get cash.   I actually kept a daily journal for several weeks following the typhoon.  I read it a few days back.  It reflects the exhaustion in the days and weeks that followed.  Mentally, emotionally, and physically, just being exhausted at the end of each day.  How and where to find food, water, do I shower or wash clothing with what muni water I can get, what is happening outside of Moalboal, how do I tell my family and friends in the USA that I am okay, how long till we have power, where do we get cash, etc.?  One of my entries reads; "When I read this journal years from now will I ask myself - was it really that bad?"  I answer the question in the next sentence.  "Yeah, it really was and you were worried and depressed as hell".

If you can see me with binoculars I should probably stop peeing in the back yard?  

[OnMyWay]

10 minutes ago, RBM said:

My answer  to this is, before deciding to settle here think carefully where, try to choose a location not overly exposed to these elements.

Used to spend a lot of time in Legazpi City loved the place and of course beautiful Mayon. Was carefully considering to live there, how ever after experiencing a couple of typhoons decided no. Was the most pleasant city to ride, drive, in that I had experienced. 

That is one of reasons I chose Subic Bay on the West coast of Luzon.  The storms always go East to West, and the mountainous landscape knocks them down before they get here.

Heavy rains here all night.  Not much wind.