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My first typhoon...Category 5 storm no less


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The tourists are all frantically trying to get off the resort island of Boracay in the Philippines, but the local boats are now not making the trip and all the boats are tied up in safer locations. Boracay is like as Philipino mixture of Las Vegas and Waikiki. The storm is being called a Category 5 on some websites.....so that means winds of 160mph or 260km/h which is quite breezy to say the least. My location is ideal.......I'm in a reinforced concrete building on the back side of a solid rock hill on the middle floor of a 3 storey structure about 60 feet above the ocean. So it's about as safe as it can get. Even the top floor of this building is below the top of the solid rock hill. If the windows do break.....I can fall back further into the suite into the bedroom which is more or less a bunker. Plus most hotels here do have their own generator.

The locals have never experienced a Cat 5 typhoon (hurricane) and they don't seem all that concerned......I've seen enough first person interviews after big storms in Florida that I have a strong appreciation of the might of this storm. I bought groceries today and should be just fine.

The path of the storm appears to be coming directly for my location in Boracay with a good possibility the eye of the storm might pass over this area. For now the weather is quite normal with the storm not expected over this location for another day or so.

Many of the locals live in modest structures made from bamboo with tin roofs, so I do sadly think the level of destruction could be quite high.

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I forgot about the winds reversing direction if the eye passes over us....thanks for that. This is going to be one hellish storm. 4 young guys just showed up at my room to removed a 200lb marble table top from the large marble base......I'd hate to think of that table top catching wind and flying through the patio window.

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Steve,

Send me an SMS if you are able to get a flight back to Manila.

Cheers,

Tony

I'll send you an SMS Tony once I have a new flight booked. I plan to stay indoors until the worst of the storm has passed.....with luck my Smartbro internet and phone connection will continue to work.

It seems the province of Antique is going to be hard hit which is causing me concern as 3 year old Angel and her family live there in a bamboo house. They are only a few minutes walk from their local school which is a very strong concrete structure so I suspect they'll go there during the storm. With 8" to 12" of rain over a 24 hour period.....it looks like raging rivers and mud slides will be a major concern for them in the countryside.

I bought the final supplies (6 liters of drinking water and some snacks) and visited everyone to make sure they are ok and dropped off some fish and pork so they have some meat to eat. There was a feeling of concern in the air as I did the shopping. I have rounded up anyone that wanted to ride out the storm in my hotel suite......so all we can do is wait and ride pout the storm. At this time it looks like Boracay will be directly in the path of this super typhoon.

Quite a few tourists left this hotel to avoid the storm only to learn no boats were leaving the island. They all returned to the hotel and booked back into their rooms. They all did the same thing as me....bought groceries and prepared to ride out the storm. If I'm going to ride out a storm.......I'd much rather do it in a concrete resort on Boracay...then deal with the flooded streets of Kalibo.

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Heck of a vacation, Steve! Like they said, stay out of harms way and take every care -after all, you're like one of the family! :D/>

Thanks to you and everyone....we plan to hunker down.....enjoy some Philipino food and enjoy the storm as best we can. :lol:

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Thanks to you and everyone....we plan to hunker down.....enjoy some Philipino food and enjoy the storm as best we can. :lol:/>

god speed and be safe. I am in Philippines every year working with their military and disaster relief forces conducting exercises similar to what you are about to experience. Many forget to buy flashlights or batteries. I hope you also purchased a first aide kit. Just in case you become a first responder you have a few things to assist the injured. Your hotel sounds to be in a secure location. Are the windows taped or boarded up off your patio? Well I am sure all is in order. Keep us posted.

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I wish you good luck there! November is always typhoon seasion there. I hope you have some bottles of San miguel beer and a Tanduay! ;-) Brown out will be possible, so having flashlight is a good idea! I experienced that the forecast was more dramatically that the weather appeared later...so hopefully you will just meet a normal typhoon and have rainy windy day(s). Not seldom a typhoon changes his way ...a bit more south or north...

Btw. do you have a model kit there to build? :woot.gif:

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Our windows aren't taped but they are on the backside of a hill overlooking the ocean about 60' above sea level. The main room in my 1 bedroom suite has all the patio windows etc.......if those windows look threatened.....I plan to fall back to the bathroom which has no windows and is basically a concrete room (very much like a bunker). The bedroom is beside the bathroom and only has 1 small window that looks to a rock face 6" outside the window.....making debris pretty unlikely for that window.

I do expect to be getting out once the storm dies down to join everyone else helping those in need. Fortunately I have a pair of jeans which is better clothing for picking through debris. Sadly I don't have any first aid kit but I do have plenty of new $4 shirts which could be cut up and used as bandages if needed.

I had a good nights sleep.....it's about 9am here.......the weather didn't change during the night breezy but nothing of concern. According to the latest satellite maps......our location on Boracay is just on the edge of the storm which is 600km across and moving at 39km'h. And yes.....our location is still directly in the path of the eye of the storm which means this will be one crazy storm.

Here's the latest news.

Latest news about Typhoon Yolanda

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As it is often said, we'll see you when you get back, well as far as ARC is concerned....keep your head down, and if I may suggest hedge your bet with a few phrases to the BIG guy upstairs. I'll be praying for your safe return also.

Edited by #1 Greywolf
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Looking at the satellite imagery, it appears the storm has gone further south over Panay and I see the eye wall has become more undefined. Hopefully that means the beastie is losing strength (although I see it is still being listed at Category 5) and in combination with it being further south, that may reduce the wind damage where Steve is. Still, it is NOT a good day to be in that part of the world right now.

Edited by Jay Chladek
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It's 9:30 Friday night here (8:30am EST Friday)....I've got a 12 noon flight out tomorrow. The winds are only about 25mph now so we are very much on the tail end of the storm tonight. I'm trying to make my noon flight tomorrow......but we ventured out 30 minutes ago.....but a few feet outside the hotel gates we were greeted by a downed power pole with power lines at eye level. All the power was turned off before the storm so it's safe.....but navigating through such debris at night with a couple of flashlights was not the best idea. So the 5 of us are back in the hotel with generator and a internet connection thanks to a local wifi stick I plug into my laptop. It is very strange to be in the middle of such devastation yet the hotel has generator power and I have an internet connection thanks to a wifi stick from a local company that plugs into my laptop. Outside the resort there is just pitch black and power could be out for 1 or 2 weeks. I'm leaving behind all my flashlights and batteries to help out my friends. You learn pretty quick to always pack flashlights and batteries when you visit the Philippines.

We'll sleep 6 hours or so and begin to learn if the boats from this island are running. If they are I can leave this resort island and make my way to the large island that has the airport. Then it is a 1 hour minivan ride if the road is clear. The chances of making my noon flight are slim....but I'll give it a shot. I actually expect to be stranded here for a few days in the Philippines as I arrange a flight home.

News reports speak of high winds and lots of rain......but we had almost no rain and the friends a few hundred km's from here say the same.....very high winds but almost no rain. The winds were high......how high I don't know.....but 200+kmph would not surprise me.

The good news is the people I care about are all safe....all their houses survived.....so all is good. The lack of rain was a real bonus.....6 feet of water in a city or town or village is pretty devastating for people so poor.

It appears this might be the worst typhoon in history.....it was a very windy day and I did notice we would al stand up when the gusts got a bit too much into the insane zone....I guess we were all ready to bolt into the safety of the windowless bathroom.

So the 5 of us sit here tonight with resort generator power.....an internet connection and in complete awe of the experience.

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Good luck to you. I have been at sea in the Philippine area during and following a Super Typhoon in 1994. Take your puke bag because even though the winds have died, the seas have not and will not for some time.

Keep us up to date.

Mark

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