It is past two in the morning and I am still trying hard to find my sleep back. I got here on Hive with the hope that I will sleep after writing this...
I was awakened by the very strong wind at pass eleven at night. I was chilling. It wouldn't have been really that cold if only I the wind is not that strong. I thought I heard a door that was slammed but which door? My nephew confirmed in the evening that he has locked up. Maybe it is in the neighborhood. I listened and there was no raindrops. It was just the wind's wrath.
The dogs came to mind. I listened but there was no whining so far. It means they are not drenched yet or they are still okay with the cold wind. I went out to the terrace where their house is. Thank goodness, the terrace is dry. That confirms my gut feel earlier that there was only strong winds and no rain. I checked on the dogs and both were dry and wagging their tails. Cool, they're okay.
I went back to bed but my consciousness has become hyper. I checked the weather updates and the latest was issued at 11:00 pm and noted that our area was under storm signal no. 1 which is the weakest signal so far. The strongest signal issued on different areas was signal no. 3. I scrolled over FB and uttered prayers every time I see posts about the storm: people on the roof due to floods, six houses taken down by landslide, highways closed due to landslides... Oh, there are more and overwhelming.
From weather bureau, DOST-PAGASA.With 560 km radius, 1120 km diameter, the typhoon is covering about two-thirds of our country.
I pulled my blanket over my head and tried to sleep. No, the consciousness is still very much alive. That was when I heard the noise on the roof. Gees, it started raining. The dogs came to mind again. They were still quiet but I wonder until when. I went out to check on them again. Now the edge of the terrace where their house is is wet. I pulled their house in the middle of the terrace where the rain hasn't reached. I took the puppy and put it in a box. It whined at first but stopped when I was done with them and turned the lights off.
Scrolling further over FB, a new weather update just came out. Updates are usually issued every four hours so I wondered why, what time is it now? The update was posted two minutes ago. I checked the time and was 2:02 am. So they shortened the update interval. That is good. Given the dire situation, more often update is better.
The weather update says the typhoon has weakened. The strongest signal was only no. 2, no more no. 3. The bad thing is, our area is now under signal no. 2. That is because the typhoon is coming towards us. The storm signals have been lowered but the rainfall warnings were heightened in areas which the typhoon has left or is leaving. Flooding and landslides are still possible. The wind and rain are now having duet outside. The good thing is, the rain is not that heavy. May it stay that way until the typhoon finally leaves. Northern part of the country, where we are, was hit by earthquake recently. Now this typhoon. May this be over very soon...
The typhoon was forecasted to leave the country by "Monday morning or afternoon." aa posted by the weather bureau. "That is too wide a timeframe of a forecast," I thought. I just pray it will leave much sooner and gets dissolved in the sea.
Oh, if you are wondering, the typhoon local name is Paeng with international name of Nalgae.
It is now 3:12 am. May the noise outside subsides so we can all go back to sleep.
And let us continue praying unceasingly...