Manila has just been ravaged by the strongest typhoon we have seen in decades. With winds gusting to 200KPH when the center of the storm crossed at midday Thursday, we saw tree after tree uprooted (photo above is our back yard, it was decimated) and neighbors’ roofs take off and just spectacular damage all across the city. We have no lights and will probably not have them for several more days. Marketman and family have temporarily moved to another location with very limited internet access and so I will be relatively quiet for the next few days. We are all fine. But many Manila residents are not. I hope all of you and your relatives are safe. It was a spectacular storm… But I am sure daylight tomorrow will show just how much we have to fix and repair… Hopefully things will normalize in a few days. P.S. I can’t believe more folks voted for their favorite pork dish in the poll question than have left a message for a UNICEF donation to Guimaras! Keep those comments coming please!
21 Responses
Oh dear. We are at a loss for words. Let’s hope everyone is safe and damage to property is minimal.
Glad to know you and your family are safe…I didn’t even know there was a storm coming.
As for the pork poll, you “forgot” my favorite, paksiw na lechon! (cooked the Cebuano way, with lots of scallions, peppercorns, garlic and vinegar—-yum!) So I voted for lechon instead…
MM,
My parents were among those whose roof blew off. I am in the process of helping them rebuilt. My mother was inconsolable to what happen to their house. Prayers and blessings to you and your family.
Doddie
We should care more to those people who are living in those destroyed and dilapidated houses, flooded areas, and in the squatter areas. They need help. Please let us know how we can send help. We need to help those living in the provinces. Let’s think of the children who are without food and shelter. There are rich people in the Philippines who should share more.
i’m glad you & your family are safe. i heard about the sotrm on the news last night . . . i have been trying to get a hold of my parents in Laguna (they retired to the philippines with my grandparents since the early 90s). I can’t get through . . . will say a prayer for everyone safety
Hello Jr, I’m from Laguna too but here in Los Angeles. I’m trying to get hold of my family but to no avail, I can’t get hold of them. Can someone help?
Glad you and your family are safe and will pray for you.
I was watching TFC this morning but nothing to suggest that it was a super typhoon. I got to call Malabon to find out. Oh the place in Taguig said, there were pieces of GI roof that flew.
danney league,
i was able to contact them through text (cell phone) about 3 hours ago. they stated “baha”. nothing else. i believe all the landlines are affected by the storm. there’s not much you can do but pray for their safety & wait out for the storm to pass.
jr.
Hello Jr,
Thank you so much for the update!! I’m glad thru Marketman, I got the much needed information.
Gosh, I don’t even see these things being covered on the news here is the US. I can simpethize though, I live on the Texas coast and we almost got hit by a big one last year.
MM, you have contingency plan for disaster like this? I am sure you are well stocked. Glad to hear everyone’s safe.
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MM, glad to hear that you & your family are safe. I visit your blog regularly and it brightens my day. I have left comments once in a while. I’ll do so more often
Glad to hear your family is safe, MM. After vainly trying to reach my family tonight through several landline & cellphone numbers, I was finally able to get through to my older sister’s cellphone. My mom said it is brownout all over Luzon? Last night when we were talking via Skype, they could barely hear me because the wind or rain was so strong. My mom said the roof was kumakalampag.
Glad your OK MM. Both our houses in San Pedro Laguna and Mandaluyong got a bit of damage. The Laguna one was struck by a falling mango tree. The mandaluyong got a GI roof blown off. Our families said that the storm is really strong.
Boy! Despite living in Northern Luzon for 12 years (1st 12 years of my life, actually), I’ve never experienced a typhoon like this. Three hours. That’s all it took. I was trapped at the fort. Saw GI sheets picked up by the wind from a nearby construction site and tossed high up in the air one after the other like playing cards, landing in the parking lot in front of where I was! Saw the Fort’s parking booth blown away from its foundation! And lots of trees uprooted. Yikes! By 3 pm it was all over. Just crossed the devastated parking lot, hailed a taxi and went home.
MM, glad that you and your family are safe. Wonderful effort on keeping up the blog despite the typhoon!
Thanks everyone for those comments/messages. Chris, I passed the Fort by around 4 that afternoon; it was so sad to see all the old trees uprooted all over Taguig and Makati! Centuries of growth wiped out in just three hours. Yikes, I can believe what I am reading on the internet that power will be fully restored by tonight…impossible in our village I think that has multiple cement poles down and kilometers of wires on the road…
Glad to hear that you’re doing fine!
I feel so stupid for going to the gym that morning in Fort Bonifacio then stopping at Market Market to buy snacks and braving the storm to go to my office.
I shouldn’t be accessing this blog here in the office, but I can’t access my internet at home.
I wanted to play Pictionary with my kids. But we just realized that our junior set is lost. Stolen, maybe. Now I wonder what other stuff are missing in my house.