This is how my family and I (Jessa) faced one of the strongest typhoon to have ever hit the Philippines in decades. My share of the story and experience that will forever leave a mark in my memory.

The day before the storm, unlike other people, already made me so nervous because the weather is so calm and I remember the famous saying “calm before the storm”, literal storm in this case. I thought that this will really be a strong one, basing on news that we received so far.

Above is the picture of how serene it was in South Bus Terminal the day before it happened. During my free time, while having our WFH set-up in preparation for the landfall of Odette in Cebu, I browsed my Facebook feed and read news that the province was already placed in Signal no. 1 then later Signal #2. It made me more scared when we’re placed under signal no. 3 already. It got worse when I saw posts with pictures and videos of what’s happening in Mindanao at that moment. It was still afternoon, but the effect there is immense; floods, heavy rainfall, and some are reported missing. 😟

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PREPARATION BEFORE IT HIT US

_{This is our garden before the storm}

_{This is our garden before the storm}

The first thing that came to my mind is our roof. It’s already there protecting our heads inside the house ever since I was a small little kid.

Luckily, we have a rope inside our house so we used it to wrap around the roof unto the ground to put it in place. Good thing it was just enough to do the thing. My parents kept some of our plants (by the way, my parents love plants so much). After that, we put our important documents inside plastics to make it safe from being wet in case water will enter our house. We even went to our relative’s house (back of ours) to tell them to just stay and evacuate at our house for the meantime because their house is still made of wood. They’re not that safe if ever the super typhoon will already make its landfall here. Although they have a choice to go to our auntie’s house which is also made of concrete.

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EVACUATE TO OUR HOUSE

So by 7pm, I told my cousin again to come to our house but they’ve just said that it’s not that strong and that they’ve also prepared enough for it too. I just informed them still that it will just get stronger by 9pm when Odette will make its landfall in Cebu. Around 8pm, the wind and rain really got intense huhuhu. My cousins just stayed at their house and I’m already so worried. All our dogs are already so terrified, making us more scared. My father, mother, brother, and I, including our dogs, and statues of Virgin Mary and Sto. Niño were all in one room, praying and hoping for it to stop already. 🙏 We prayed the Holy Rosary - Luminous mystery. Because of how strong it already is outside, we were able to pray and finish other mysteries too. Then I suddenly noticed the leaking water at the side of our window inside the room we’re staying at. So we transferred to our Sala.

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DELAYED MESSAGES

I tried to contact my relatives especially since there’s still a signal but the messages are already delayed to receive and late to send messages. I received the chat of my cousin (with a wooden house) that their roof was already gone and that they went to our other cousin’s stronger house for a while. Then here comes another problem, even the house of our relative with concrete house got their roof to fly by the strong wind too. I chatted them that they should just hide somewhere there, anywhere that can protect them, even if they don’t have a roof anymore. It’s very dangerous to go outside already since the wind and rain are too strong for moving and flying objects might hit them/ unknown obstacles along the path that might get them injured. We were really worried because together with them is my nephew who’s not even 1 year old yet (12/24 birthday).

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TO THE RESCUE

The company I’m working at has this group chat to keep us updated of everyone’s situation. By around 10pm, I still have a phone signal to read chats at this time. I scrolled by a message that said that it already calmed a little bit, but we still can’t be complacent enough because we’re at the track of the storm still. Strong winds and heavy rainfall might still go back by around 12am. That’s why without hesitation, even if the situation outside calmed down a bit, we tried to rescue our relatives, all of them in that house. My brother went there by himself because we can’t contact them anymore. We already turned our flashlight on at the back of our house to guide our relatives on our way to our house. It was a very scary moment because the rain is getting stronger and no one’s arriving yet. It gave us a bit of peace of mind at the sight of my cousin and his baby nearby. We shouted to look out carefully for obstacles on the road. My brother is still not been back for a while already. He said that they made a way for them to pass by safely.

They were all rescued, thank you Lord. My brother and I slept at around 2am already when the storm already is far enough from Cebu. We still can’t see the aftermath of the typhoon since it’s still too dark. We already assumed that all our chickens died.

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DAMAGES THE NEXT MORNING

We woke up around 5 in the morning to see what happened outside while my relatives already went back to their own houses to check it out and get their GI Sheet that is probably lying somewhere near.

We gave them gloves so that they won’t get injured picking up items.

I finally saw our house and thank God nothing big of a damage happened.

Only our Watery Apple Fruit Tree fell down, but our plants and chicken are still alive.

We roam around our area in search of a store that sells drinking water, food like bread, and charcoal. While walking, we can see the effect Odette did to our place. We really thought that it was already a new unfamiliar place because of how damage it was after. Fallen electrical posts, debris, and a ship that went above the water onto the land near Deca Homes.

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STILL THANKFUL

We’re very thankful in the end that my family is safe and sound. We’re alive and kicking. We were each other’s strength during the onslaught of the typhoon and we will stand stronger afterwards. Thank you Lord for keeping us safe. We cleaned our house thereafter. We assigned tasks so that we can finish it faster. I’ll clean the inside of our house, while my brother and father on the outside of our house. My mom will cook the food after all the cleaning we did.

Life is full of surprises, may it be bad or good, but always keep in mind that there is always another day, for us to stand up. And even if I'm already old enough, I still believe in the saying that there's a rainbow always after the rain.

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