Typhoon Bopha/Pablo

disclaimer: I do not own this photo: credits to Dean Acabo

 

 This is one of the not-so-good days of Cagayan de Oro, but this time, the whole city was prepared. It can be recalled that last year, our city was devasted by Tropical Storm Washi/Sendong, which killed over a thousand of people. Last year, the city was not prepared because, we usually do not experience being directly hit by a storm, perhaps I can say that we were not vigilant despite the warning that Misamis Oriental was already under signal #2. I can actually remember that the night wherein the storm hit Cagayan de Oro, I was still celebrating a christmas party with my barkada notwithstanding the strong winds, we even ate ice cream during that time. Then, when I woke up for the simbang gabi the next day, I was surprised reading text messages from my friends that the river already overflowed. And then news came out that many had died because of the flashflood.

This year, well, the Kagay-anons were much prepared. Pre-emptive evacuations were done by the people living in flood prone areas and landslide prone areas. But compared to last year's storm, this year a much greater storm had hit the city. This typhoon has been labeled a category 5 typhoon, which actually brought panic to myself. Thankfully, the typhoon occurred during the day so it was much easier to take precautions. When I woke up early this morning, heavy rains welcomed me from my sleep but it then stopped after half an hour. What actually brought me much worry was the strong winds. The winds actually was so strong to the point that we actually thought that our roof would be removed (thank God it didn't happen). The sky was dark, but there were also times wherein it would lighten up, that's where I became confused of the weather. Then there was actually a black-out, which actually brought us more worries. Thankfully, we were able to fully charge all our phones and my laptop. We used these devices to be kept updated to what is actually happening. As the day ends, it was so nice to hear that as of 5pm earlier there are zero casualties.

 

Even though for the past 20 years we have not been suffering strong storms, I believe that, that is about to change. Let's face it, we should blame ourselves, for we are the ones who are contributing to global warming which actually is the reason why there are abrupt weather changes.

 

Oh well, what is done is done, what we can do is to minimize the possible damage that it might do to us. Thank you Lord, for keeping us safe, may you continue watching over the people who are going to be affected by the said storm in other areas in the Philippines.

 

Sorry for the confusing blog, the electricity just went back and I wanted to write ASAP... teheee... mwah...