SUBSCRIBE2 weeks after supertyphon Reming, 1
The destruction of Reming in Tabaco City. This was a warehouse destroyed.
Two weeks after supertyphoon Reming struck Bicol on 30 Nov, and I was on my way to Catanduanes for the Bicol leg of my photo assignment. At first, I was worried that the devastation would be too great as to bring much discomfort or, gasp, would not allow me to do the shoot of around five churches. Anyway, I just have to go, cross my fingers and hopped on an evening bus trip.
The route was supposed to be via Legazpi then to Tabaco which is way too long (and fare jumped to P795.00). However, during one of the stops, the drivers learned that the route via Tigaon, Camarines Sur already opened that we took this.
0600H and I woke up with the rising sun. The bus I was in was already in Sagnay and really with the rugged slopes and cliffs looking down directly to the sea, a very beautiful sight unfolded. But then, to my amazement, there was just utter destruction. Mountain ranges (yes, ranges, not just a single mountain) were all affected. The vegetation was devoid of leaves. What was left were just branches, leafless, broken. This was the situation from Sagnay up to Tabaco City and from San Andres up to Bato, Catanduanes. Just like the above photo, mountains were barren and brown and pityful.
Left, in Tabaco City, while waiting for the ferry bound for Catanduanes, this cargo ship ran aground during the height of the typhoon. Right, in Virac, these coconut trees fallen, a common sight in Bicol where the crowns are all facing in one direction telling much about the way the wind has blown.
In Malilipot, Albay, these house was destroyed with its walls falling to the newly formed river. Because of the volume of ash dislodged from the slopes of Mt. Mayon, it has overwhelmed river systems with lahar and rocks and boulders the size of refrigerators and trucks that it literally filled this rivers and formed other pathways for it to pass.
