Rattled by Typhoon Glenda

Compared to the other provinces in the Philippines, Metro Manila tends to be spared from the effects of the really strong typhoons. This is probably why Spain made Manila the center of the Philippines hundreds of years ago.

Looking at the damage wrought by typhoon Glenda, left me rattled. I shudder to think what we would be looking at if it actually hit Metro Manila.

Typical Typhoons

Our house is located on a low-lying area and is bordered by a fairly large hill on one side. But instead of the hill gently sloping down, it was sharply cut by the developers, making it look more like a cliff that is several stories high.

The good thing about this cliff is that it acts as a barrier against wind; the bad thing is that is poses a landslide danger, especially since townhouses were built at the top.

In a typical typhoon, the wind and rain come from the cliff and go down to us. And while we still get some strong gusts, the average speed tends to be much slower as it blows over us.

During these situations, I simply close the windows facing the cliff and leave the windows on the opposite side open. This helps to prevent the air at home from becoming damp or stale.

Not the Typical Typhoon

Typhoon Glenda was not a typical typhoon in the sense that the wind and rain came from the other side. It looked like it blew in from the ground and went up the cliff instead of the other way around. And since the wind wasn’t encountering a barrier, everyone in our area felt the full brunt of the typhoon this time.

Not anticipating that the wind would come from the other side, I left the windows open and was penalized with a wet floor. Fortunately for us, that was all that we had to endure.

It could have been worse if the trapal, or the canvas awning, over our garage was ripped apart by the wind. Without it, part of my neighbor’s metal roof would have landed on our car instead of being caught by the trapal. When I saw the galvanized sheet, I couldn’t believe what happened and spent quite a bit of time examining our car and thanking our lucky stars.

As the typhoon was ramped up in the late evening, I began to worry. The trees in the garden swayed and creaked, our windows rattled, the pots and pans clanked, and the ceiling kept expanding and contracting with every gust of wind. Not being able to sleep, I ended up pacing around the house all night, trying to make sure everything was fine.

Then the winds got even stronger at around seven in the morning, ratcheting up tensions further. I could hear the non-stop sound of muffled a car alarm from somewhere outside. Looking out the window, visibility was so bad that I couldn’t see the townhouses at the top of the cliff at all.

Then the power went out at about eight in the morning and that’s when things really got tense. We didn’t have any television or internet for updates. We couldn’t find the candles in case the power outage stretched into the night. But more than the lack of power, we were more concerned if the water got cut off. It was like watching one of those disaster movies that featured the end of the world.

Surveying the Damage

For a typhoon that was five times weaker than Yolanda, and bypassing Metro Manila at that, the damage was surprising. Quite a number of trees around our area were damaged but, thankfully, property damage was much less than what I expected.

 

Down the road, a large branch had snapped near the ground and fell towards the house across. Fortunately, it didn’t hit its mark because the power lines on that side of the road caught it. The cables held and the tree didn’t appear to cause any major damage to the house under it.

A few meters up the road, branches of another tree broke off near the trunk. I didn’t notice if the owners of the house beside it parked their car underneath. If they did, then their high riding SUV may have ended up a low-slung roadster.

The most damage sustained by a tree was the one around the corner. The trunk of a fairly large Banyan tree sheared completely off a few feet above the ground. With the wind coming from the bottom, and no cliff shielding it, this veteran of several typhoons didn’t make it. I understand that there was a vehicle parked under the tree when it collapsed. And since I didn’t see the vehicle when I came out, surmise that the owner was still able to drive it away instead of having it towed.

Walking by the playground showed an uprooted tree. Apart from the wind, the ground was probably soaked to the point that the soil was just too soft to keep it upright. When the tree came down, it missed the playground and glass doors of the building right beside it.

One of the vehicle casualties was the car of a neighbor out back. As I passed his gate, I noticed that the car inside his garage was sitting under a fallen tree. That neighbor appeared to have taken precautions by bringing the car in his driveway and putting a car cover on it. Unfortunately, the tree beside his house fell forward, pinning the car underneath.

Perhaps one of the biggest structural damages was sustained by one of the buildings at the top of the hill. With the wind accelerating up the cliff, it was strong enough to tear off portions of the roof. Apart from a few twisted galvanized sheets, only the bare frame is what’s left of the roof.

As I was walking back home, one of the most interesting things I came upon was a small bicycle on the side of the cliff. And while I am tempted to imagine that it was blown up the ledge it was stuck on, the bike most likely fell down from the house above it. Hopefully, the owners will get it back.

The thing is, the damages I mentioned above were only within walking distance from home. As I walked further I noticed other damages, such as an uprooted Octopus tree. Not only was it lying on the ground, a large chunk of the cemented ground was still attached to its roots. There was also a cement post that was cut off at the base. The metal frame was twisted while the cement around it looked like it turned into powder.

Final Thoughts

As I mentioned earlier, Typhoon Glenda was five times weaker than Typhoon Yolanda. And though it veered away from Metro Manila at the last minute, it still packed winds of 140 kilometers per hour to cause damage.

Thanks to the accurate forecasts and early warnings of PAGASA, a lot of people prepared for the typhoon. And thanks to luck, the damage was much less than expected. Yes, power went out for majority of the city, but Meralco has been quite good at responding to these sort of problems; so I expect things to normalize soon.

I remember reading an article stating that typhoons in places like the Philippines will be much stronger because of climate change. Typhoons like Yolanda, which is considered to be the most powerful one in recent history, may come more often.

Given this prospect, there are a lot of lessons to be learned from a weaker typhoon like Glenda. The first is to take the warnings of PAGASA seriously. Their forecasts have been quite accurate and even if they may err, it’s better to be on the side of safety.

The second is to be prepared. Keeping fresh batteries and working flashlights are a must since trees can take down power lines and plunge entire neighborhoods into darkness. A battery-powered radio will also be helpful when the lights go out.

The third is to keep a few pails of water filled at all times. Most people don’t realize it, but they can actually live without electricity because all this does is prevent electronic equipment from working. Light can be provided by candles and food can be heated with LPG.

Not having water makes it impossible to cook and drink. Bathing is probably one of the biggest things people take for granted; they often realize its importance after going through a day or two without washing up.

And the fourth is never to park a vehicle under a tree or beside a post during a storm. As Typhoon Glenda has shown, it doesn’t need to be as strong as Typhoon Yolanda to bring them down. So parking vehicles inside one’s garage is the safest thing to do.

The problem may be that a lot of things have improved in the Philippines over the last twenty years. And this may have resulted in many people, myself included, becoming complacent and forgetting the lessons of being prepared.

Well, with Typhoon Glenda to remind us that stronger typhoons may be in our future, it is time to re-learn those past lessons and become prepared once more. The thing is, we don’t have to go as far as doomsday preppers because they are a bit too extreme. Having a few days’ worth of supplies in a city, with more for those in the provinces, should tidy most people over.

I’ve already started on my own preparations. This way, when the next typhoon comes I’m hoping I won’t be as rattled as I was with Typhoon Glenda.