Export thread

Typhoon Megi (referred to in the Philippines as 'Juan') just passed by in my part of the world. Though I was way down south, I also understand that it was the strongest since 2007. Last year, Metro Manila was hit by typhoon Ketsana (referred to as 'Ondoy' here). I thought it was the strongest. Entire subdivisions submerged up to the second storeys. But I got all these info only from the news.

We don't have those kinds of typhoons and floods in the southern-most island of the country (Mindanao). So my most nightmarish experience happened when i was a student in Laguna (60km south of Manila). The eye of the typhoon passed through the center of the campus. A large and old tree was uprooted. It was that strong. While the typhoon was raging, I was praying a lot. When the typhoon passed, the whole campus was impassable for hours. Trunks of fallen trees were all around, blocking all roads.

I wonder how it is in other parts of the world. How does a hurricane really look and feel? I see them only in American movies.

I remember well, just how powerful a typhoon can be.
I was aboard ship in Subic Bay (Luzon) in 1971. A typhoon was heading for the island so we got underway along with 6 or 7 other ships in our battle group.
We didn't quite make it in time as the storm caught us and tore the catwalks from both sides of the flight deck. Thats quite a bit of iron!!
Luzon didn't fare much better - drowned livestock on the roads and such almost as far as Angeles City.
Transportation was non-existant since the roads were either blocked or washed away.
The ship repair facility at Subic couldn't make the repairs due to storm damage so we ended up at the Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore.
It was quite an experience!

Adan,I was stationed in Vietnam back in 1970 and was ending my tour there when a Typhoon hit.I found out when I got home that 100,000 people were killed in Bandgelesh by that very same Typhoon.I've also been in several tornadoes the wost being an f-5 that went through my city of Topeka,Ks. back in 1966.That's one I'll never forget.I don't think theres any differance between a typhoon and a hurricane other than the way they spin .I might be wrong but that's what I've heard. russ

The summer of 2004 brought 4 hurricanes to Florida 3 of which crossed the peninsula, the eye of one of those passed directly over my house (Jeane), another passed but 60 miles to the east (Charley).
Jeane came with 105 mph winds at land fall and 85 mph here. The anticipation was the worst as I chose not to evacuate. You don't know what to expect or how bad it's going to get. Thankfully my decision not to evacuate proved to be the right one. The power was out for ten days, which takes a little getting used to. As soon as you know that the worst is over, when the wind changes direction, you begin to relax and think "whew" I'm glad I still have a house, and a roof. But it's not over until the power comes back on. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm addicted to "the grid". I'll bet I hit the light switch 50 times reflexively before I understood that it did not provide light.
Thankfully that was the worst weather experience I've had to endure, and I hope it stays that way.

Mowing in 42 degree Celcius Temperature......this brings out fuel vapourisation and dehydration of the human body.:confused2:

lizard said:

Mowing in 42 degree Celcius Temperature......this brings out fuel vapourisation and dehydration of the human body.:confused2:

Click to expand...

that's 107.8F for the rest of us. Too hot to think

For me, the weather has never affected me all that much. I mean, I've been around snow and ice, but I just avoided it and skipped work lol. The ice is what always gets me. I'm really scared of it.

lizard said:

Mowing in 42 degree Celcius Temperature......this brings out fuel vapourisation and dehydration of the human body.:confused2:

Click to expand...

Hey lizard when it gets over 42 degrees C ... I usually switch the A/C in my cab up to high...:biggrin:

As for weather, f-5 tornado here at home and nice icy blizzards in Utah mountains...

but when it all calms down again, all weather causes things to grow, so we all can then MOW...
:smile:KennyV

KennyV said:

Hey lizard when it gets over 42 degrees C ... I usually switch the A/C in my cab up to high...:biggrin:

As for weather, f-5 tornado here at home and nice icy blizzards in Utah mountains...

but when it all calms down again, all weather causes things to grow, so we all can then MOW...
:smile:KennyV

Click to expand...

Sounds really exciting to have aircon working in such high temperatures......but we do not get snow:confused2:

lizard said:

Mowing in 42 degree Celcius Temperature......this brings out fuel vapourisation and dehydration of the human body.:confused2:

Click to expand...

Yeah, I hear about 42-degree temperatures in Australia that cause grass fields to just actually burn. I read about bush fire that affected a large area a year or two ago. That's the hazard in your area.

I mentioned that most of Mindanao does not experience typhoon. But drought hits this island a lot. Good thing we don't have 42-degree temperatures here, except around bonfires

A tornado did pass by our place. The only one in my 40-year memory. It twisted and uprooted a falcata tree 10 storeys high sometime in 1980. Around ten years earlier, hail fell in my place that really scared the sh_t out of me. I was a very young boy then.

The "Derecho of 1980" was my worst experience. It hit Wisconsin first and Michigan a day later. Over 100mph winds, driving rain, and tornadoes amid an eerie green hue. I had to sit in the unemployment office as it lost power and watch what appeared to be the city of Taylor get swept down Eureka road. As the power returned after the storm and I had my check in hand, I drove home through what looked like a war zone. Trees were uprooted everywhere, power lines were down and driving in a straight line was virtually impossible. The sound of chain saws was prevalent on the entire drive. We got our power back on after 8 hours, Lincoln Park wasn't so lucky. My mother was without power for over a week. It was hot that week, adding to the misery of those without power. It truly brought out the "neighbors helping neighbors" attitude that is so prevalent in this state of ours.

I've been in a couple tornadoes since, and these pale in comparison to the destruction wrought that year.

I was in an ice storm in early December on the coast of Washington many years ago. I was in charge of a small 24/7 facility there. It was all computer based and we lost our main power AND our back up power. That added a new chapter to our emergency procedures. It was tense!

My worst involves being way out in the boondocks on a bicycle in the cold rain without adequate gear to keep warm. In cases like that there's nothing to so but just keep pushing until it's over and learn to do a better job planning next time. Weather maps on the internet are a huge help in avoiding these problems.

We had an ice storm here a number of years ago, there was so much ice we had no power for nearly 2 weeks and we had to waddle through snow up to my waist to my neighbors about 10 mins away to get water because they had a spring. Thank goodness we had a wood stove, we put all the stuff from our freezer and fridge in holes we carved in the snow.

I have experience numerous typhoons already from Caloy, to Milenyo, to Ondoy to Juan. I must say that all are terrible. With Ondoy, rain falls the whole day, water levels up faster than one can imagine. With Juan on the other hand, whistling wind takes away all the communication means from internet to mobile phones to telephone lines.

Hi Juan! I'm also from the Philippines. Great to see a "Kababayan" here. But I'm from way down south where typhoons never come (most people in Manila do not know that).

Where were you when Ondoy came? The pictures and videos I saw were all frightening and heart-breaking.

adan said:

Hi Juan! I'm also from the Philippines. Great to see a "Kababayan" here. But I'm from way down south where typhoons never come (most people in Manila do not know that).

Where were you when Ondoy came? The pictures and videos I saw were all frightening and heart-breaking.

Click to expand...

When Ondoy Came, I was actually at home. Good Thing it's my Saturday off. Water Level in my area reached knee-high in less than an hour. 'Twas the worst flood ever since I came here in Manila.

It was the worst it seems for everyone in Manila, especially in Marikina. I have read that during the regime of the unpopular Marcos, a study already pointed out that a flood as bad as Ondoy could happen in that area. SM Malls took heed of this study and built SM Marikina high above the river.

Look at this . . .


Then look at this . . .


The engineers of SM were swiftly rewarded for their prudence.

In the second image, the water at the foreground is flood water. There's a major highway that submerged underneath it, stranding tens of thousands of people for close to 48 hours.

The reputation of others that didn't take heed were swiftly swept away. Real estate prices in lower parts of Marikina dropped like a log, while those in higher areas rose like a wave.

Hi Adan, the pics are shocking. Pictures show very clearly. Water in the river was very deep during Ondoy. YouTube has many video on Ondoy. I cannot breath while watching. We hope Han River will never rise like that.

I guess my worst weather experience was as a teenager in Ohio. I was 16 and working my part time job at Waffle House. It began to snow, and it kept snowing. By the time I got off of work, snow was halfway up the door to my 66 Buick. Crazy me, not knowing any better, just knocked the snow out of the way and got in and started driving. I made it home, ten miles away, all the time seeing abandoned cars all along the highway. Come to find out, I'd just driven home in Ohio's worst blizzard on record in that old 66 Buick.

Aside from the usual tornados/floods/drought that we go through here in the southern plains, the worst for me is ice storms. Our last biggest one took down trees of all sizes/cross country steel high line towers/rural lines and feeders. I have 40 acres and ice on my fences averaged 1" to 1 1/4" diameter. I have a gen set so we had electricity for the 13 days till my electric coop got the poles and lines back up and electric back on. We also had lots of company. What makes a ice storm so bad in usually after the storm leaves our temps may go to zero at nite and 10 above during the day. Ice gets tight at those temps.

That time ice was so thick on the ground even road graders and my 80 hp blue tractor wasn't heavy enough to break the ice for the tires to engage the road surface or in my pastures. Those big tires just sat and spun 'round and 'round. The county had a huge hinged in the middle front loader that was heavy enough to engage the road surface and with two graders started openning up our roads in hilly areas.

Ice storms are miserable.

jigbuilder said:

Those big tires just sat and spun 'round and 'round. The county had a huge hinged in the middle front loader that was heavy enough to engage the road surface and with two graders started openning up our roads in hilly areas.

Click to expand...

Wow! I try to visualize this with thick mud on tropical ground. But even so, at some depth underneath the wheels would take hold. Thick ice on the ground is much worse. But as it is, you withstood all these and moved on.

On the positive side of all these, the strength of the human spirit is definitely stronger than any storm.