4 posts tagged “typhoon”
If a typhoon is coming, do not park your car by a golf ball driving range. Those girders holding the nets in place come down mighty easy, and the result is something that might fit in the Transformers movie:
This is about a kilometer from my house.
The rain is gone. The trees and shrubs around my place look like they've been attacked by the world's largest weed whacker, but other than that, evidence of the typhoon is limited to soaked earth and the occasional collapsed structure. But I'm safe, the island's in one piece, and I even have some food left over.
My neighbor's carport collapsed. Set out on a 100-yard walk to the road to investigate, and this was among my first discoveries.
We're still in the middle of it, though I suspect the worst is over. Sadly, my predictions for the hibiscus et. al. were borne out.
There are more people on the road than you would think given the strength of the wind. The rain hasn't been too torrential, though, so perhaps that explains it.
People better prepared than I do this to their gardens:
Here's a funny note: that first power outage probably saved me $1000 or so. I was using every outlet in the house to charge my various batteries -- cell phone, camera, laptop -- and luxuriating in the dry safety of indoors. Then, the power went off. Hey, I thought, maybe I can get some writing done on the laptop, which has a full battery.
I walked over to grab it, and noticed that the corner of my house had sprung a leak. My trust ThinkPad had a small puddle forming around it.
Frantic, I fired it up ... and now I'm posting on it. Whew.
UPDATE, 12:30 p.m.: Power just went out for about five minutes, then came back on. Apparently about 60,000 people in the Ryukyus are without power, so I don't know how long it's going to last. Don't worry, though, it's going to take me at least 5 hours without Internet before I start to go all Lord of the Flies. i guess I'm saying if there are no posts, there's likely no power.
Since the power has been flickering but not going out, some photos and video from the typhoon ...
Just because I feel like it, here are some "before" pictures of my beloved tropical garden. I doubt the double hibiscus flowers are going to survive, and lantana will take a beating too. It's fitting that this happens just before I leave, I guess -- I get on a plane in a little over two weeks.
