Lei View of the World

Typhoon Milenya visited us last Friday. It was a super typhoon with center winds of about 110 kph.

I went to the office that morning because I had a meeting with my boss who just arrived from Jakarta, and with somebody from the Embassy. After the meeting, at around 11 am, we went home. But that was the start of the very gusty winds. I couldn’t use my umbrella to go to the parking lot because it would just turn over. And when I was already on the road there was a big branch of an Acacia tree that has been broken blocking part of the road. When I reached EDSA, the MMDA steel fences to keep buses in their lanes fell down, so that the lanes available to vehicles narrowed down in some parts.

When I reached home, there was no power. But I thought that was normal for Meralco to switch off the power, just in case lamp posts fall down or branches trip their wires. But until now, we still have no power. The big acacia tree in front of Quirino Elem School fell on a cement Meralco post and the post is now broken, bringing with it the electric lines. They say power in the affected streets will be restored by Monday yet. So I am still here in the office, working.

In the office, those who stayed after 11am last Thursday, said they got dizzy. They were on the 23rd floor of the building. They said the building swayed with the strong winds. In my office, rainwater got in, and flooded the carpeted floors. Some of our books that we produced that lay on the floor were damaged. We had no power in the office until late in the afternoon yesterday.

But in my lifetime, Yoling is still more powerful than this one. After Yoling passed, there were no leaves remaining on trees. That was when I saw the roof or Araneta Center being peeled one by one by the strong winds. That was when all the streets in Project 2 had fallen trees. And that was when I saw literally a roof from an old wooden house on Aurora Blvd. being lifted by the winds to a vacant lot across Aurora Blvd. Luckily, no one was hurt there.