Tag Archives: typhoon

ST Doksuri spared Xiamen

by

0

The super typhoon that is now wreaking havoc in Jinjiang, Fujian Province is named Doksuri which is the Korean term for “eagle.”

I don’t know much about movements of typhoons but as I was checking the forecast for Doksuri last night, I thought the name is really apt. There are 6 agencies monitoring the typhoon and all of them predicted a path that was west of Xiamen, but Doksuri moved towards the east of Xiamen. Like a proud bird who knows what it wants.

I was texting with a couple of friends last night, both of whom live alone. And they both said they wouldn’t be able to sleep remembering how scary Meranti was in 2016. I told them the typhoon was moving very slow at 20km/hr, which meant it wouldn’t reach Xiamen in the middle of the night.

Indeed when I woke up at 5am, there was no rain at all.

And when it did finally rain, it wasn’t the kind of rain we expected.

Apart from a few broken branches and fallen bikes, I did not see much damage at least on our campus.

Xiamen has been spared.

Workers rush to get rid of a broken branch blocking a road

Super Typhoon Doksuri

by

0

I took this video this morning, less than 24 hours before Doksuri (called Egay in the Philippines) is expected to hit Xiamen early tomorrow morning.

If I can, I will upload videos or photos after Doksuri has passed.

When Meranti hit Xiamen in 2016, I was in the Philippines for a week. So this is going to be my first super typhoon. My husband thinks I’m over preparing, but I prefer to be overprepared than underprepared.

I missed Doksuri when it hit the Philippines; I left the country the afternoon before it made landfall yesterday. I was quite nervous boarding the plane, expecting scary turbulence but it was not so bad. I’ve experienced worse.

The weather was actually pretty nice when I arrived in Xiamen.

This is the calm before the storm.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Resilient 

by

6

A super typhoon struck the city three months ago, knocking down many of the trees and uprooting a few others. On my way to the apartment from the airport, I noticed a huge change in the city from what it was before I left and the typhoon hit (yes, I missed one of the biggest events in the city’s history!) It was so dark and fellled trees were everywhere one week after the typhoon.  And  later, I learned that in some areas people had no water nor electricity for over a week. 

Thankfully, the local government did a great job of organizing the clean up and restoration of electric and water services, and the citizens themselves went out of their way to help others and clean up their respective areas. 

For several weeks after that, I did not hear chirping birds from my balcony. But now they are back. The trees that had remained standing after the typhoon have grown new leaves — a beautiful green. 

This city and its people have bounced back from the ravages of Meranti. They are as resilient as its trees. 

I wish you and your loved ones a peaceful and happy 2017. And should the storms of life come you way this year, I hope you will be resilient enough to bounce back and be stronger. 

Happy New Year!!!
T.

WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE: RESILIENT