The Philippines is visited by at least 20 typhoons a year, being at the edge of the Pacific Ocean near the equator. This is the perfect location for low pressure areas to build up. We are used to it.

However, the typhoons are becoming more severe and despite being used to it, we’re never going to outwit these disasters.

Typhoon Kristine destroyed my hometown, my home province. What hit the whole Bicol region before Kristine’s landfall was the same intensity and severity that hit us a day after. The tail of the typhoon had a bigger and wider cloud system than the center of the cyclone. I don’t remember experiencing this kind of intesity. We were being battered by heavy, non-stop rains and strong winds for two whole days.

The typhoon bore down on us the entire day of my birthday. By nightfall, we were like inside a washing machine on wash cycle. The wind and rain were so violent that we could hear glass breaking and GI sheets being torn up. The wind was howling like crazy. I was so worried for my outside cats. They made a brief appearance but disappeared again. I was intent on catching them to keep them inside and just ignore the protests from Kimchi and Sushi.

We couldn’t operate our power generator for some reason—we  were doing something wrong. We were without running water (our water utility is in util that’s why I keep on picking fights with them) and we need power to run our water booster pump to pull water from our reservoir tank to circulate water between two households. Good thing my mom has four water tanks of rainwater to flush her ground floor toilet. That’s why for Number Two, we had to use her bathroom. For everything else, we had to fetch water in pails from the faucet outside that is connected to our clean water reservoir. I had to carry buckets of rainwater up and down the stairs to flush my toilet in my house that we use for Number One. I did all this under torrential rain and howling wind. I also had to bring up buckets of clean water to wash dishes and our faces and hands.

I had to be economical with my cooking because my drinking water is dwindling. We also have to eat down the contents of my fridge before they get spoiled due to lack of refrigeration. I also had to supplement our food rations with cup noodles because I don’t want to open my freezer. It’s still full of ice and I estimate my frozen food will hold out for three days if I don’t open the freezer door.

Yesterday was the height of Kristine’s wrath in our region. Because we didn’t have Smart cellular signal for two days, we were cut off from the rest of the world. We have no idea how flooded the rest of the universe was. Good thing my outside kitties, Gorrilla and Socks, got hungry and made an appearance, so I snatched them from the violent weather outside. I have no idea where they were hiding because I had been calling out for them around our compound for two days already.

So waited out the storm. Two days of howling winds and rain pelting our windows. Flying GI sheets, wooden planks and trees. I couldn’t sleep; I was afraid that anytime our own roof would be blown away or windows would get smashed.

The typhoon died down at about 5 am today and only then I could sleep.