Sunday, May 29, 2011

Typhoon Songda Hits!

From what I can gather, the winds at the peak were about 100mph sustained with gusts to 120-130mph.
My apartment is facing south and on the water which means I take the wind full-on (and serve to knock it down for all the buildings behind mine).  But that also means the likelihood of an object coming through a window is slim (because there are no objects).

It was crazy.  Easily the strongest and scariest typhoon I have experienced (of many).  My window panes were flexing and I was very nervous one of them was going to break.  I had thankfully brought my sit-in kayak in next to my apartment building but it was still getting blown around so I had to keep moving it with the adjusting wind.  This also made me aware that my old sit-on kayak, which is in a very protected spot, might not be safe.  I grabbed my flashlights and ventured out into the storm, finding it challenging to stay upright.  When I got to the kayak spot by the river, it was gone.  It and the tree it was tied to had blown away!  I quickly walked upriver and happened to spot it floating downriver.  I knew if it made it out to the ocean it would be long gone, so I plunged into the river to catch it before it floated past.  I succeeded in grabbing it while simultaneously realizing my phone was in my left pocket.  I grabbed it out and put it in my jacket pocket without any damage.  I retied the kayak to a bigger tree in a more protected place and it was still there this morning.

Lots of videos and pictures so I'll quit with the storytelling:


[flexing window panes]

[saltwater - not rain - blowing up from the ocean and into my apartment]

[power's out till 4am, more water seeping in through every crack in the windows]

[saltwater blowing into the village, as seen in headlights]


[what was left of my chair on my balcony] 

[this sign post broke off] 

[all these plants had flowers yesterday..] 

[this boat was originally centered on the trailer.  They used an excavator to get it back to center before launching it today] 

[the boats that were too big to be pulled from the water - they were saved by these bow lines.  I saw them rocking last night and they looked like toys in a bathtub with an obnoxious little kid] 

[a few of many] 


[my pink kayak is seen on the left where I retied it after plucking it from the river last night] 

[I actually found most of my chair a few blocks away]

2 comments:

erin said...

just for the record - diving into the river during a typhoon isn't exactly staying safe, but it is sort of bad ass.

jkmtbiker said...

Glad to hear you escaped river swimming during a typhoon unscathed! I had been a little worried about your safety inside your apartment, but it was good to know you moved to a safer location when the winds got into the triple digits :-).