Cleaning Up after Super Typhoon Krosa

We are relieved to be bidding Super Typhoon Krosa goodbye. Equivalent to a category 4 hurricane, this big baddie began roaring in during the wee hours of Saturday morning, surprising everyone with intense, unrelenting wind and drenching downpours. More than one family reported that the shrieking gusts and rumbling sustained winds sent all the kids running into mom and dad's bed for reassurance. Looking down from our window during the daylight hours, we could see the wind-driven rain spiral and snake its way through alleys like a misty-white Chinese dragon. And we all kept saying, "This can't be it. It isn't supposed to be here yet! It's supposed to be here on Sunday!" That's about as lame as telling a woman in the final stages of labor that it's not her due date so she can't have her baby yet.

This was my third typhoon since I've been in Taipei, but the first one during which I could actually feel the building sway from the force of the wind. A little unnerving. We also had a minor ceiling leak, as did most of the apartment complex residents. The poor ladies at the front desk dispatched engineers with buckets all over the building and were logging the leak reports in a spreadsheet. I'm guessing maintenance is going to have a busy week ahead. One friend had water steadily flowing out of her light fixtures in both her bathrooms and was dumping full buckets about every three hours. In the lobby water was trickling out of the electrical outlets which is just a little scary. Our building had some minor damage - I heard an unconfirmed report of broken windows in the health club area - with the biggest loss seeming to be window screens. One friend called his wife over to the window of their 16th floor apartment and said, "Honey, do you see that rectangular thing way down there on the street? That's our screen door."

We were fortunate, though, that we only lost power for about half an hour, unlike friends in other parts of town who were without electricity throughout the day. When the power went down in our block, McLeod had taken Barret and a friend Aiden to the movies next door (remember, we all thought we were only experiencing the outer bands and not THE typhoon). They got through about two-thirds of the movie, when everything went dark. Another kid was having a birthday party at the theater and had given all his buddies glow sticks, so of course, what else would you do in a blackout but play tag up and down the aisles of Cinema 2? Barret and Aiden, who weren't blessed with glow sticks, had to sit out that rollicking good time while McLeod got them bundled up to come home. I heard some great stories from the boys about their adventure including 1) climbing down the stalled escalators, 2) seeing a chair fly across the road, 3) getting stuck in our apartment elevator as the power cycled on and off and of course, 4) NOT getting to play glow stick tag with the other typhoon-crazed six year olds. They did get rainchecks for the movie so guessing McLeod or I will be taking them back to finish the movie later this week. I wonder if they'll have a different perspective of the film, Evan Almighty, after actually seeing some flooding around town?

This morning I got out with the camera to check the damage around our area. As you would imagine, there were lots of trees down, some broken windows, and signs blown away. What amazed me, though, was the speed with which the clean up was happening. Not only were the city garbage crews out early picking up the stacks of debris, but everywhere, people were pitching in to clean up the common areas. I recognized several senior citizens brandishing brooms and rakes as the group who regularly meets for Tai Chi in the park behind our house. Elsewhere, families were out sweeping up broken glass, pottery shards and leaves from in front of their businesses and homes. And as soon as they could, everyone was getting back to business as normal, whether that was frying up eggs in rice wrappers at the breakfast shops or selling knock-off sportswear in the market.

Below is a clip of the storm as it rolled in and more shots of the aftermath. We are thankful to be safe and dry. Please pray for the folks who lost property, had injuries, and the few families that lost loved ones. Near us, one house on Yangming Mountain (the mountain behind our home) collapsed on the eight people inside. One person was killed, others injured. Landslides are still a big issue until things dry out. McLeod just walked in from touring the mountain area on his bike and said the roads are strewn with rocks and trees. That will take a little more time to set right.

Brag Blog

Ok, I'll admit it. This entry is really for the grandparents so bear with me while I brag on the kids! First up is Barret. He did chores forever to earn a set of building dominoes (the kind you set up and knock down). He cashed in his chore chart recently and has had fun setting up the dominoes with help from Mom and Dad. Last night, though, he painstakingly set them up on his own, using the box top as a guide, and after three tries finally got them to collapse as planned. (I did help a little setting them back up after the test runs.) Take a peek at the end product:

The second brag is on Caroline. She officially kicked the thumb habit four weeks ago, and after proving herself for a month, she got her own reward. Wednesday, I took her to George Pais Beauty Salon to have her nails painted and hair trimmed. The staff there absolutely treated her like a princess as she sat primly in the grown-up chair. She picked out a lovely, sparkly purple shade for her nails and afterward had a blast telling people, "My nails are painted....Wanna see 'em?" Then, we joined friends Nicky and Anne for coffee (and apple juice) at the corner cafe. Caroline, what a nice grown-up girls' day we had! I'm proud of you!