Songda Follow Up

So Songda came and went leaving a little bit of destruction in her path. By the time the storm hit about 9 PM on Saturday, it was classified as only a Category 1 with sustained winds of 90 MPH and gusts of up to 120 MPH. This lasted for about 4 hours.

Around 8:30 PM, as we sat in our living room, we heard a loud crash! We looked outside and noticed that one of our neighbor's sheds had been blown off its perch! Mike ran next door to see if he needed help. After some recruiting and planning, it took 7 adults to push his shed up onto his back porch where it was sheltered by a brick wall. During this time, the wind was starting to pick up and whip around.

This video is not great to the visual, but you can hear the wind and see silhouettes of trees.

By 10 PM we had lost power and were worried that the doggie door was going to be blown down! The only thing left to do was to push the kitchen table in front of the door, add a few sand bags and hope for the best. We read books by candle light until we heard another big bang coming from the back yard. Our other neighbor's shed had been blown to pieces and the contents were periodically sent flying!! We watched as unknown objects went soaring with each gust. By 11 PM, there was nothing left to do but go to sleep and wait to see what was left in the morning.

You can see our table in front of the door int he back.

Please don't judge my messy house!!

When morning came, we ventured outside to see what was left standing. Really, nothing but trees and sheds were casualties of the storm, but even that little damage was impressive!

We were very lucky the typhoon had died down to a Category 1 by the time it got to us!! Can you imagine if it were stronger?! Last year we had 3 typhoons that were all disappointing. To be honest, I've seen worse in Indiana on a normal stormy day! I think most of us went into this typhoon scoffing the system and thinking it would be just like before. The difference this time was that the storm went right over the top of us, for the most part. I think the eye was about 15 miles off the coast. This was a good wake-up call for us. The path and the strength of these storms can change instantly and can make a big difference!

All in all, we are very lucky to have made it out safe with as little damage as we did. Next time, we will prepare for the worst and hope for the best!

Super Songda

Now our weekend wrecking storm is a SUPER typhoon!! I don't know what makes a super typhoon so super, but finding out is number one on my "To Do" list for tomorrow. Until then, I'll leave you with a forecasting image from our favorite website: Weather Underground. Looks like Songda will be a Category 3 on Saturday at 3 PM when it hits us. Good thing we stocked up on food and booze at the store today!! We'll be spending the weekend in the house.

More updates to come soon. Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend everyone!

How's the Weather?

Mike is due back tonight after a 6 week TDY... FINALLY! I am so excited to see him! To celebrate our reunion, I was hoping to spend the weekend on Yoron Island, an even smaller spit of land even further out into the clear blue than Okinawa. It is a perfect piece of paradise where you can sip fruity drinks on the beach, rent jet skis to zoom over the crystal blue water, and use mopeds to take the one road for a lap around the island. It was going to be a glorious weekend relaxing and reuniting.

But, as most things seem to be going lately, we had to cancel it. Though we are not due to enter typhoon season for another week, we are expecting our second tropical storm of the year. Typhoon Songda is headed our way and is due to pass around Saturday night. The only way to reach Yoron is by ferry and all ferries have been cancelled for the weekend.

So, I guess we will have to spend the weekend stuck at home, watching movies and debris blowing by the window. Though I'm bummed to cancel our weekend getaway, I am excited to spend time with my hubby, anywhere!