Thundering Typhoons!

Well we have had an interesting few weeks. We had a Typhoon rage through here last week and it caused absolute chaos. It was a catergory 4 which, according to my newly subscribed Tropical Storm Risk website http://tsr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/ is sustained winds of 211-250kmh. Even Jeremy Clarkson would have trouble driving that fast.

When we lived here 5 years ago we had a Cat 2 (154-177kmh) blow through and we spent the day mopping up water being blown through the seals on our windows and watching roofs get blown off peoples houses (with them still holding onto them) I was at work when the storm first hit, it was quite good fun watching it from the roof of our office building and watch the windows bow, wondering if the would shatter. After about 2 hours if high winds and fierce rain it went completely dead. I guess we were in the 'eye of the storm'.


I thought the storm had passed, we had lost power & water at the house so started to arrange to go home. We were on emergency power at the office and our server was down so not much point in being there anyway. The first problem was actually getting out of our road. Tress were down everywhere. This one blocked the road to our office. So after a bit of creative navigation I was on my way home, unfortunately the storm returned, even fiercer than before. Now I was faced with the choice of continuing home or trying to get back to the office. It normally takes me 10 mins to drive home (yeah, I know I should ride my bike) This time it took me an hour. Some of the reasons for this shown below.


I even got to take my soft roader, off road! I eventually got home and after a few hours the storm was over. So we went out & surveyed the damage.
It was pretty obvious that we would have no power or water for a few days.
So with my riding buddy Dirk (Dirka Dirka Jihad Dirka) delayed and little chance of mountain biking, there was nothing for it but plan an extended stay near a beach. Puerto Galera, here we come!