Hello, Hive! The past few days have been very rough. A Super Typhoon (locally named Odette) has recently hit the Philippines and our place took a lot of damage. There’s no electricity, no water, and no internet. The typhoon hit the central and southern part of the country last December 16, 2021, Thursday, and it’s been complete chaos since. We couldn’t live in our house anymore because the entire roof was destroyed and everything inside was drenched. I managed to get power here in the school where I’m working and I’ll be posting this once I get stable internet.
I heard the news about the typhoon last December 13, 2021, Monday. I didn’t pay much attention but I knew it was going to pass through Cebu. We didn’t expect the typhoon to become a Super Typhoon and so we didn’t prepare for it. A day before it was forecasted to make landfall, more news was broadcasted saying the typhoon was going to be quite strong. My girlfriend told me to get ready for it and the only things I thought of were buying groceries early and charging our devices. I didn’t think about flashlights, candles, or extra water. Thoughts of inspecting the state of our house or trimming nearby trees were completely absent.
This was our house at 5 in the morning with its roof missing.
In the afternoon of December 16, I saw a video on social media showing how the typhoon has gained strength in the past few hours and has become a Super Typhoon or a Category 5 hurricane. I became scared but I was optimistic that it wouldn’t do a lot of damage in our area because, during the last Super Typhoon (Yolanda) that passed through Cebu, there was minimal damage in my city.
At 5 PM, it was already raining and the winds were getting stronger. We heard banging sounds on our roof and to my horror, I saw a portion of our roof loose and flapping with the strong winds. My brother and I immediately looked for something to tie the roof in place but I knew it wouldn’t hold long. I kept looking at our roof and knew it wouldn’t survive if the winds were about to get stronger.
My mother decided we evacuate to our neighbor who had a concrete and solid house. At around 7 PM, the rain was pouring harder and the winds became stronger. We packed whatever we could in our bags and ran to our neighbor’s house. We got safely inside as the winds became terrifying. We could hear it growl, howl, and whistle. We could hear trees falling and roofs being yanked from the houses. Rain was coming in from the windows brought by the strong persistent winds. The house was flooding and we all scrambled to cover the windows and mop the floor.
Around midnight, the winds had died down and we went outside to check the damage. Trees were on the ground and tin roofs were scattered around the roads. We couldn’t get past them but we saw that the roof of our house was completely missing. The typhoon had removed our roof. It was still raining and light winds were still coming and going. We were tired and sleepy, and we couldn’t do anything amidst the darkness and the flood, and so we rested and slept.
In the morning, we took a closer look at our house and we saw the devastating damages that the typhoon did. It not only removed our roof, but it also drenched everything inside the house, all our clothes, our documents, our computer, everything. Our house was in wet ruin. We salvaged whatever we could, dried some of the clothes, and threw away things destroyed by the rain.
The day after the typhoon was the hardest. We still had food to eat but there was no electricity. Transmission lines and posts were damaged. Water was extremely difficult to get a hold of. We tried to put back some of the tin roofs we found but they barely covered half of our house. When it got darker, we used the remaining batteries of our phones for flashlights. We had dinner early and I went back to my room and slept on my bed frame with only the wood platform and my pillows that dried under the sun. Half of my room was open to the night sky and I prayed it wouldn’t rain that night. Thankfully, it didn’t and I tried to get as much sleep as I could. My family slept inside the chapel in front of the house because there was nowhere else to sleep.
We decided to look for another place to stay because our house was unlivable. We had a carpenter list down the materials needed to start repairing our house. Everyone was clamoring to get their hands on tin roofs and wood and we couldn’t buy the materials right away. Cash was running out and masses of people lined up in ATMs because only a few were working. People also lined up in water refilling stations and gasoline stations. When I drove around Mandaue and Cebu City, I could see endless lines of people and vehicles waiting to get precious resources. I am so lucky that we still have running water in our house, I was able to withdraw money right away, my brother was able to buy gallons of gasoline, and drinking water was not hard to get by because one of my brothers works in a water manufacturing company.
These are some of the pictures of the place we rented while waiting for our house to be repaired.
But challenges are up ahead. Supplies will run out, cash will run out, and water will run out. I pray that the government and private sectors all work fast to get things back in order. As of writing, there are certain parts with electricity already and more ATMs and gasoline stations are opening back up. But it’s still not looking good. Christmas is around the corner and what a sad way to celebrate the holidays in darkness and with rationed water.
But I am so thankful that my entire family is okay and my ever-supportive girlfriend is with me. There are so many people who are in need of help and I will try to put in this post or edit it to add channels where you can send help to those who badly need it.
If you wish to send me or my family some help, your upvotes and tips will be extremely appreciated.
That’s it! This was a difficult post to write but I didn’t want to just leave a gap between my past posts and my future posts without acknowledging the tragedy that occurred. I express my gratitude to Hive because my financial worries are lessened a bit knowing that I could make use of the funds I have earned through my blogging. I won’t be able to work on my day job for the next few days and I plan to spend more of my time writing for Hive. Thanks for your time and for your support. See you in the next post. Cheers!
