It’s been nearly a week since Typhoon Odette hit the Visayas region of the Philippines. Bringing Cat 5 winds and an ocean full of rain it devastated many parts of the country and was gentler to others. The following are my experiences and general impressions at this point in time.

“What me worry”

Dumaguete rarely gets hit by typhoons. The last one to really hit the area was about 10 years ago. It’s basic geography; we are further sound than the typhoon belt which routinely slams the island of Luzon (where Manila is located), hits the Visayas less often and Negros Oriental, where we live, infrequently. We’ve seen storms heading our way before but invariably they shift enough to miss us, just drenching us with rain. 

But this time the storm tracked toward Negros from the beginning and never wavered. By Monday it seemed likely to hit us. That said almost everyone I knew seems nonchalant about it. Few people were in the kind of panic or preparation mode that you might see in Florida as a hurricane approaches. Everyone seemed to think “what can you do. It’ll either hit us or it won’t.” But as the days approached not only did it not change direction it went from a Tropical Storm to Typhoon to Super Typhoon.

Up until the morning of the storm even Janet wondered why I was worrying and asked why I was so concerned. We had workmen doing a project in our home. Come Thursday afternoon they still were not finished but continued (no doubt wanting to get paid) until after 5:00PM. Getting the cash seemed more important to them than getting home and batting down the proverbial hatches.

Our neighbor has a successful construction supply company. They were preparing for their annual Christmas party. About 5:00 workers arrived for the buffet style meal. By 5:30 the winds picked up considerably and no one seemed worried as they filled their plates; that is until close to 6:00 when power throughout the Province was cut off. The party broke up quickly after that.

Let’s talk about the power for a minute. Our island is fed by a nationally run transmission line. My guess, and I can’t prove it and no one will admit it, is that the line was cut on purpose to save the system and potentially save lives from downed power lines. 

So by 6:00 we had no Internet or power. Our emergency lights kicked in and I turned on my battery powered fan – an essential for me.

Between 6:00PM – 10:00PM the winds picked up to the point of a serious storm; something I had experienced often. At 10:00 Janet and I went to bed determined to at least try to get some sleep. And that’s when the fun began.

I Can Sleep Through Anything

I have always told people that I am such a good sleeper that I can sleep through nuclear war; that night proved it. We had been told that the brunt of the storm would hit early in the morning but apparently Odette was not informed. Between 10:00 – 10:30 our 2 story houses was battered by winds that did not resemble any storm I had ever experienced. And then conveniently I feel asleep.

I woke up at 11: 30 and while the storm was still raging it wasn’t raging as hard as an hour before. I thought, ‘maybe that was the worst of it,’ and fell asleep again. I am told by Janet and friends that between 1:30 – 2:30 it was pretty damn bad. But I was asleep so it couldn’t have been that bad lol.

I must admit that I wish Odette had hit during the day so I could see what was happening. Since I couldn’t see anything, sleep seemed the best thing to do. I woke again at 3:30 and this time stayed awake; not because the storm was so powerful (the winds had definitely tailed off with an occasional big gust) but because I knew that in a couple hours I could see the aftermath and was scared and excited to see.

At 5:30 I went downstairs and checked Facebook, which was down, along with my cell phone service. I waited till 6:00 and tentatively went outside. The house has survived, my shop in the back of our property survived. Literally not a drop of water had seeped into the house or shop. Apparently I had worried for nothing.

There were a few tree limbs down and a neighbor’s tree had fallen onto our wall; the next day it was cut up easily and efficiently.

Rumors started but with no cell service, Internet or power they were just rumors. By the next day my cell service returned (if poorly) and I could see on FB the devastation. While Dumaguete had gotten by relatively well, surrounding towns in Negros Oriental were severely damaged and other islands just to the north had not faired so well. Cebu, Leyte, and Siargao in particular were devastated.

Janet’s home town of Alcoy, in Southern Cebu was hammered. The family’s old house before they moved 3 years ago into a stronger concrete home was hit by 2 coconut trees and destroyed. Flash flooding killed a number of their neighbors from their former home area. Janet’s newest nephew (under a year old) got swept away by the floods and was saved at the last minute. 

The family’s new house was hit by a coconut tree and the roof damaged but fixable. 

Although she doesn’t name the men, she does post their pictures, with the cialis cost australia eyes blacked out. Statins Help Penile cialis 10mg With Elevated Cholesterol In case, a young man with ED is at risk. It has been found out through various research studies that problem of erectile dysfunction occurs due to several cheapest viagra from india reasons. The Check Out Your storefront commander viagra doctors recommend taking Kamagra with full large glass of water.

All this took days to piece together. The day after the typhoon I had enough connectivity to contact my sister and children and tell them I was OK. It was another day or two before the real effect of the storm became clear.

Is Modern Communication Really Better?

Back in my childhood storms meant that power might be down and possibly (though rarely) phone service. If there was a natural disaster somehow local newspapers still managed to get printed and distributed. Many of us had battery powered radios which told us what was happening.

But after Odette, with no power, Internet or cell service, life was chaotic and I couldn’t help but wonder if communication’s really better today. OK it probably is but for 24 hours I wished I had a damn newspaper to read.

Disaster Olympics

Perhaps it’s cynicism but I notice that there is nearly a competition to determine who has it worse. “My power will be out for X weeks/months,” people proclaim. There are towns and entire islands where the estimate is many months. Those who chose to live in remote areas are likely to have far more downed trees and will wait much longer for power to return.

In Valencia, where we live, a suburb of Dumaguete, power has returned to part of the town; unfortunately not our part. We have been told maybe this week but I am doubtful. There is a downed and destroyed pole not too far away, surrounded by shattered trees. They’ve put up a metal pole to replace it but for whatever reason have not transferred the lines. 

Get a Generator

I have debated back and forth for two years about buying a generator. It was in our original house budget but when the budget – well, went over budget, that was cut. 24 hours after the storm I had had enough and announced to Janet that it was time to get a generator. I went to the local Honda dealership hoping to find the Honda generator I was wanting two years earlier. They were already down to one remaining generator and not the model I had lusted after. It was actually on sale and I said I would take it. “Cash only,” I was told. “How am I supposed to get that much cash in the middle of this madness? “ I asked. Shrugged shoulders and sorrys.

Janet and I split up to find a working ATM. We found a couple but both had huge lines. My guess is that most people in line were trying to get food, not generator, money. An hour and a half later we remarkably had withdrawn the money for the generator and its needed accouterments (these things suck gas big time). We got it home set it up and fired it up. So for the past 5 days we’ve powered our devices, chargeable lights, my battery operated fan, kept the fridge cold, etc. We can’t run an aircon, but if I get desperate I can go in the car and cool off temporarily.

A Minor Success

Just as bad as the power, was the Internet situation. Our fiber lines were down and I noticed that our box about a block away was destroyed. Now that I had connectivity via phone I went to the PLDT website and waited in a queue for an hour before a representative chatted with me. It was late at night but I was determined to at least put in the request and inform them our box was destroyed. To my delighted surprise about 24 hours later they called me and a pair of technicians came over. What were the chances they would have a replacement box, I wondered? Excellent as it turned out and within less than an hour we had our Internet back – and thus I can post this tome.

Christmas Movies

For years I do nightly Christmas movies as the holidays approach. My list has grown to the point I have enough that I have to start about December 1. There are the classics like It’s a Wonderful Life, Scrooge, and Miracle on 34th Street, the modern kick ass Christmas movies like Die Hard and Home Alone, and the comedies like Bad Santa and Christmas Vacation. This week all the movies are getting watched on my phone. Ah, the sacrifices we make in the Philippines lol.

It’s Christmas

Some of Janet’s siblings and nieces had planned to travel to Dumaguete for Christmas. This was a big deal since with the pandemic they haven’t been here in two years. Unfortunately Odette changed that plan and so while the family cannot come some of our friends can and we intend to have a great Christmas Eve feast. Of course we decided that lunch would be more practical than a dark dinner. Hopefully Santa will understand.