Swept by the Wind
It could easily be a title of a cheesy romantic movie. But no, instead, it describes my experience with my encounter with the super typhoon "Milenyo", yesterday. The cool and windy weather that I woke up to yesterday made me want to stay in bed a little longer. It didn't occur to me that outside, the weather was already bad.
One of my officemates already texted me early in the morning that she was gonna take an emergency leave because of the bad weather. I figured that she just didn't want to go to work. Hehe... That's okay, she still has a lot of leaves to use up anyway.
While I was contemplating on whether or not I was going to work, another one of my officemates sent me a text message forwarded from our human resources department. We were allowed not to go to work because of the bad weather condition. Great! Now, I didn't have to decide on whether or not I was going to use my vacation leave because our HR already did that for me.
I thought that the Weather Bureau was again exaggerating everything. In the past, they would predict super typhoons but it would be nothing more than a little drizzle. So, I figured that this was another case of exaggeration on their part. Either way, I was bappy because there was no work. I love holidays and I looked forward to them even more after I told my boss that I was resigning effective immediately. Well, he wanted me to stay till next year but I told him that I can stay only till December- MAX.
I made a list of my to-dos for the day and after that I was up and running. Outside, the wind was quite strong. Hmmm, maybe the weather bureau got something right this time.
Yesterday was a good day to have shabu-shabu so me, my mom and my sister had lunch together. The adventure started while we were having lunch! Around 11am, I started seeing objects flying already. From a distance, it looked pretty funny --- almost surreal. I can't believe that really huge trees are even at risk of being uprooted...
When I got outside, I realized that the winds were really strong and the situation was serious. The umbrella can't even shield me from the rain because they were hitting me from the side and not from above.
I had a meeting with my friend and as I was on my way to her house, I noticed a lot of trees blocking the way. These were big 50-100 year old trees lying on the ground. Electrical wires are also dangerously hanging low. It was already 1pm and the winds showed no signs of stopping or even slowing down. When I reached my friend's house, I didn't even want to get out of the car anymore since tree branches were flying... I don't want to be hit by one of them or worse, by a galvanized iron sheet some people use for roofing.
I summoned up the courage and pressed her doorbell! (Stupid me, I forgot that they had no electricity). Waiting for the door to open was the longest 5 minutes of my life. I was fighting the wind and looking at my surroundings to see if there was a flying object coming my way. If I weren't fighting the wind, I would've probably ended up in the roof of someone else's house. I left the useless umbrella inside the car... The only thing that it's good for now is to help me do a Mary Poppins.
Thank goodness, I wasn't hit by anything. My friend's house was a disaster area. Her mom's windows were shattered by the wind and the roof was leaking. Their 50 year old tree was also uprooted. She wanted to replant it but I think she has to say goodbye to that mango tree. They wouldn't be able to fit a crane inside the house to fix it. Even if they did, the poor tree is in bad condition.
After we had our meeting, I went straight home. Most of the streets were flooded and I was afraid that my car would die on me. I had to drive really slowly so that water wouldn't go inside my car's engine.
I felt like a wet cat when I got home. I was all wet. To make matters worse, the electricity in our house was down. I predicted that it would probably take the electric company days to fix the electrical wires damaged by the storm. Aww, and our old mango tree was also one of the casualties of the storm... I never really expected that I would be sad about that tree.
Well, going out in that weather yesterday was not one of my smartest moves. I was lucky not to have been hit by one of those flying objects.
Metro Manila was pitch black yesterday! Some director could take advantage of the scene because it would make a really good backdrop for a scary movie. It has that Resident Evil effect. Papers and other objects flying, cars overturned, strong winds, trees blocking the roads... the works!
The electricity hasn't gone back and it has been more than 24 hours since the blackout. So, here I am back in the office doing my stuff. It's more productive than staying at home!
One of my officemates already texted me early in the morning that she was gonna take an emergency leave because of the bad weather. I figured that she just didn't want to go to work. Hehe... That's okay, she still has a lot of leaves to use up anyway.
While I was contemplating on whether or not I was going to work, another one of my officemates sent me a text message forwarded from our human resources department. We were allowed not to go to work because of the bad weather condition. Great! Now, I didn't have to decide on whether or not I was going to use my vacation leave because our HR already did that for me.
I thought that the Weather Bureau was again exaggerating everything. In the past, they would predict super typhoons but it would be nothing more than a little drizzle. So, I figured that this was another case of exaggeration on their part. Either way, I was bappy because there was no work. I love holidays and I looked forward to them even more after I told my boss that I was resigning effective immediately. Well, he wanted me to stay till next year but I told him that I can stay only till December- MAX.
I made a list of my to-dos for the day and after that I was up and running. Outside, the wind was quite strong. Hmmm, maybe the weather bureau got something right this time.
Yesterday was a good day to have shabu-shabu so me, my mom and my sister had lunch together. The adventure started while we were having lunch! Around 11am, I started seeing objects flying already. From a distance, it looked pretty funny --- almost surreal. I can't believe that really huge trees are even at risk of being uprooted...
When I got outside, I realized that the winds were really strong and the situation was serious. The umbrella can't even shield me from the rain because they were hitting me from the side and not from above.
I had a meeting with my friend and as I was on my way to her house, I noticed a lot of trees blocking the way. These were big 50-100 year old trees lying on the ground. Electrical wires are also dangerously hanging low. It was already 1pm and the winds showed no signs of stopping or even slowing down. When I reached my friend's house, I didn't even want to get out of the car anymore since tree branches were flying... I don't want to be hit by one of them or worse, by a galvanized iron sheet some people use for roofing.
I summoned up the courage and pressed her doorbell! (Stupid me, I forgot that they had no electricity). Waiting for the door to open was the longest 5 minutes of my life. I was fighting the wind and looking at my surroundings to see if there was a flying object coming my way. If I weren't fighting the wind, I would've probably ended up in the roof of someone else's house. I left the useless umbrella inside the car... The only thing that it's good for now is to help me do a Mary Poppins.
Thank goodness, I wasn't hit by anything. My friend's house was a disaster area. Her mom's windows were shattered by the wind and the roof was leaking. Their 50 year old tree was also uprooted. She wanted to replant it but I think she has to say goodbye to that mango tree. They wouldn't be able to fit a crane inside the house to fix it. Even if they did, the poor tree is in bad condition.
After we had our meeting, I went straight home. Most of the streets were flooded and I was afraid that my car would die on me. I had to drive really slowly so that water wouldn't go inside my car's engine.
I felt like a wet cat when I got home. I was all wet. To make matters worse, the electricity in our house was down. I predicted that it would probably take the electric company days to fix the electrical wires damaged by the storm. Aww, and our old mango tree was also one of the casualties of the storm... I never really expected that I would be sad about that tree.
Well, going out in that weather yesterday was not one of my smartest moves. I was lucky not to have been hit by one of those flying objects.
Metro Manila was pitch black yesterday! Some director could take advantage of the scene because it would make a really good backdrop for a scary movie. It has that Resident Evil effect. Papers and other objects flying, cars overturned, strong winds, trees blocking the roads... the works!
The electricity hasn't gone back and it has been more than 24 hours since the blackout. So, here I am back in the office doing my stuff. It's more productive than staying at home!
posted by charlotte marie at 5:47 PM
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