SUBSCRIBETyphoon Yoyong, 2 December
Mid afternoon and outside, its already like 5 PM. The sky is dark, the weather is wet yet cool. No strong winds though. Typhoon Yoyong (international code name Nanmadol) is continuing its journey from Bicol and Quezon early today and is on its way to Aurora in northeastern Luzon. Already, there is one confirmed dead in Catanduanes having been electrocuted by felled electric posts near the provincial capitol. It has disrupted early rescue efforts from Monday’s tempest which left around 500 people dead and 200 missing in the wake of mudslides and floods. And now this. How many more countless lives will be lost? Structures and homes demolished, entombed by landslides?
1700H Outside Ayala Ave., the wind is starting to make its presence felt along with a drizzle.
But typhoons have always been a fact of life for this country. Come rainy season and storms from the Pacific starts to descend in these islands. It starts to enter the northern parts of the Philippines. As the year gradually closes, entry will be at the lower parts and is such that by November/December, the Visayas is usually across its path and exits Northern Palawan. But there are flukes. Just like this one. In recent years, though, I have observed that even in the months of January/February, and even once in April, storms occur whereas before it does not. Screwed up weather system?
When we were still in elementary and high school, typhoons were greeted with glee. Days of suspended classes, cool days and nights always welcome. But with it are power blackouts caused by cut power lines. News of much havoc were always eye openers: a giant mango tree just beside our house before, that for years have provided countless fruits succumbed to typhoon Nitang’s fury back in 1984. Or the rooftop of a public school in Pardo which we pass by everyday to school landed on another property during typhoon Ruping. TV and newspapers abound with photos of further wreaks: submerged boats, lost crops, homes washed away to sea by rampaging rivers. Or worst, bloated bodies as what happened way back in ’84 wherein the bridge over Mananga river collapsed and with it several people. As one witness recounted after the storm, bodies were gathered and heads looked like a pile of coconuts.
1800H I’m still at the office nursing a headache. Outside rain and wind hitting the glass windows. It is wet and windy. It is dark. It is cold.
