A Year After Yolanda

As of this writing I can hear hubby's hammer against the wooden scaffolding that the carpenters have used in attaching the new ceiling to my old room. Until now we have not returned to that room, instead we occupied the former room we have appointed as guest room in our  house. The room was four month old when Yolanda struck. I have not even finished furnishing it but Yolanda destroyed everything that was in there, except the wardrobe which I bought prior to the onslaught of the supertyhoon.

The picture on the left was taken with my tab a day before Yolanda.I was cool and comfy in my room, clutching my daughter's stuffed toy as it was quite cold.  Having been so used to numerous typhoons that we, my siblings and I  have weathered in my parents' house, I was not a bit scared despite the news that it was a super typhoon and that a storm surge was expected in Ormoc. Late in the night of November 7, I was still monitoring the weather thru the internet in my second floor room. When the rain grew stronger, I called my husband up to join me in prayer. He was restless and started bringing up our appliances, as he feared the river would overflow its banks and the first floor would be flooded so he started bringing everything up for safety. We believed our room was the safest place in the house.

My son helped him bring everything upstairs to our room, TV, desktop computer his own laptop, upholstered sofa set,  etc. I stashed away to safety my own precious gadgets, I had a new laptop, one Samsung phone and a lenovo tab. I placed them all inside a charole bag and stowed it away in my locker in the guest room. Then believing that it would just be another typhoon, we went to sleep.

Everything was alright until after breakfast when the wind started howling eerily. Angry winds and rains started lashing at our windows. We ran up to our room to check but rainwater was coming in so my son and hubby frantically brought our appliances down  again because there was water everywhere. all four of  us, son, hubby, daughter in law and two year old Tristan huddled  in the small guest room praying for the storm to stop. Then the wind changed direction and lashed at the windows in that room so we all ran down to the sala in the ground floor. The door was swinging dangerously so we sat with our back to it to keep it from opening. My son suggested that when the eye of storm would pass, it would be calm for a while and we would have time to run to someplace higher and safer. He was thinking about the Medical Center which stood on a hill. Our house is near that hill. But I turned the idea down. It was much safer inside the house. So during the lull which was about 10 minutes, we opened the door and saw the damage outside. The flood was not so high, the house across the river was destroyed. Then the winds started again. We hurriedly  closed the door and went back to our places by the door. I prayed so hard and loudly. The baby on my lap who had been so silent throughout our ordeal fell asleep probably due to fear as he saw the terror in our faces. Water was flowing down from the upper floor to the sala. We heard two loud explosions and hubby said the glass windows in the kitchen were broken. We were praying loudly knowing no man would be able to save us in that situation but God alone.God must have heard my prayers and the prayers of so many other people who experienced Yolanda's fury because it stopped.

Right after the storm, I told my husband I wanted to cry. Then he asked me to go out with him into the streets to see the extent of the damage. Then I realized how God has blessed me and spared me. Other people have not been so lucky. But still my tears fell for the many victims especially for those in the neighboring city of Tacloban.