Typhoon Yolanda Survivors’ Nightmare is Back

I’m just sitting here in my home office for a while now, anxiously monitoring sudden changes in our weather condition. It’s been forecasted that we will be experiencing heavy to intense rain some time today. My son’s school suspended class in all levels because it was pretty cloudy this morning. However, it is now almost 9:30 AM and the sun has began to shine back which is quite a relief actually. But then again, one year ago, I felt the exact same thing: I woke up and it was also cloudy and it became sunny a little later but came afternoon, the strong wind and rain just beat the hell out of our area and the rest is history which made the news because of how devastating it turned out to be.

Negros Occidental was actually forecasted to be one of the areas where Yolanda was supposed to really hit but for some miraculous reason, the more the storm hovered over us, the lesser and weaker it got ; something that Negrosanons have been very grateful and thankful for. And now here comes the new typhoon which has been declared to be as strong as Yolanda and will travel the same routes that Yolanda made which means it is highly likely to hit Negros Occidental once again. We’re not sure, however, if the same miracle will continue to spare us from the nature’s wrath this time around. We know we can not just rely on miracles, but we can pray and do something though. I have already made some grocery shopping yesterday. I am sending my brother later to fill my generator with gas. What I am just so worried about is the storm surge. They said in the news last night that it was going to be 11 feet tall. That’s very scary. I live near the sea and that is truly terrifying.

Today is also Baby Nicolo’s christening. I have already asked my friend Janice if she’s considering postponing the event because of the typhoon but she can’t because the venue is already booked for the rest of December. She’s just praying that the storm doesn’t really fall today. Ralph and I were invited but given the situation, I’m sure Janice would understand why we can’t be there. I have also alerted my boss about the possibility of power interruptions that may not allow me to fulfill my tasks. Luckily, my boss is one great guy! He even sent me a bonus last week for our 5-year anniversary celebration!

I just can’t imagine how hard this must be for the Yolanda survivors. I mean it’s only been a year and they have not completely recovered yet from the devastation and here it goes again. This is just too much. I don’t want to think that Visayas people are getting punished for something because I know for a fact that Bisayans are naturally kind and good people. So it must just be Geography.