Hello! First of all, I'm very much safe from the super typhoon Uwan that wrecked havoc in the Luzon islands more than a week ago.
It was a whole day of anxiety, however. As told by the news, the super typhoon will make a landfall on the eastern part of Luzon by early evening. There was already an occasional blow of strong wind when I woke up so I quickly grabbed the cables to charge all my flashlights and gadgets. The internet connection was also unstable which prompted me to top up my data.
Came late afternoon, the sky was getting darker and the wind was already beginning to rev up. I quickly took a bath just in case the typhoon would cause flood and power outage which will make it difficult or impossible to use the bathroom the next day.
I took all my ready-to-eat canned goods next and filled my mason jars with water and secured them in my room because it's a huge hassle going to the kitchen when it gets flooded. Then I proceeded with cooking my dinner that is good for at least a week because what if power outage lasts for a week?
People were comparing the typhoon with the monster typhoon Yolanda several years ago and I can't imagine a similar typhoon hitting our island, more so, passing just a few kilometers above our province.
After eating my dinner and preparing the things I needed, I went back to my room and waited for our undefiable fate as Uwan began to wreck havoc on the eastern parts of Luzon. The wind got even more violent around 10 in the evening. Earlier that day, I heard on the news about the announcement of the Baguio City's mayor urging his constituents to be at their homes by 10 P.M. Our province is just a few hours away from Baguio City so I used it as my guide and also made sure to have everything prepared before 10.
True enough, the wind got worse around 11. My neighbors' roofs were banging so loud, some sounded like an aluminum foil being crumpled. It also began raining hard as the wind worsen. But you know what was amazing? Our electricity stood strong. The longest time of power outage was only less than 5 minutes around 10 P.M., while it only flickered a few times at the height of the typhoon's rampage. I read updates that most areas in the province were already experiencing power outage from early evening. I guess I can consider us here lucky.
I think it was ridiculous of me to try and compose a post for Hive while simultaneously watching the news for real-time updates of the typhoon and while also praying our roof doesn't get peeled off. As you can see, the tablet on the left side was blank. That's right, I haven't written even a single word.
The mad wind continued for the next 5 hours and reading the updates of people from nearby cities and towns caused me so much worry. There was a storm surge which continuously flooded most coastal areas of the province. Some also took it as an opportunity to spread fake news which caused many people to panic.
I heard the typhoon would bring more wind than rain. While many were on panic, I was quite relieved of the news. I trust my mama's assurance of the sturdiness of our roof. If she was confident of its durability then there's no reason for me to doubt.
I was also constantly in touch with my siblings to assure them that we're okay at home. In times of crisis, it's always our family we should run to. Around 5:30 in the morning, the violent winds have already lessened and I can no longer hold to stay awake.
Weather was already quite calm when I woke up and there were only occasional rain and strong wind. I immediately took a peek on my aloe vera plants and I'm happy to see not a single of it was damaged. In the afternoon, I went to our backyard to check mama's plants and as expected her tall plant in a small pot was laying flat on the ground.
Came early evening, rain and wind got strong once again but only for a few minutes. I think we were still under wind signal 2 during that time.
There was a widespread power outage in the province due electric posts being broken due to the fierce wind. Trees were uprooted and houses were damaged. There was no flood except for those on the coastal areas. Just like the storm surge which brought in sand, which I think is around three feet, and covered the entire Lingayen baywalk, burying the benches and also almost burried this signage. The food stalls at the baywalk for the Christmas bazaar were also damaged.
This is how it looked before. Anway, I think they've already removed the sand and restored everything on the area.
We were very lucky that our family and home weren't much affected by typhoon Uwan. I'm thankful that all I had to fix was my mama's plant. Thank you, God (and mama), for keeping us safe!
Thanks for reading! 💚