"Mental fortitude is beneficial in situations that would test you in a psychological warfare, but Super Typhoon Egay was more than a psychological warfare."

• I almost lost my breath when I heard a sound that I didn't want to hear—the sound of a falling branch.

• ...an unsuspecting policeman almost had an accident when he was hooked by the low-dangling cables while his motorcycle was running on the road.

🇵🇭 VIGAN, ILOCOS SUR, PHILIPPINES

It was 2023-July-25, Monday, when I felt the calm before the storm. Although it has been raining continuously prior to the onslaught of the super typhoon (ST) Egay, the preceding rain was something that I could still tolerate and love. In fact, me and my brother even did another rainy 4-day custom North Luzon loop a week prior to the landfall.

► A Deep Calm Sleep, a Nightmare While Awake

On a Monday (2023-July-25), I still reported to work. By the way, I work at home. When I say I reported to work, I did my roles and responsibilities in my job while working at home.

After my work, I had a deep uninterrupted sleep because of the cold weather. Being tired from my 4-day North luzon Loop version 2 then going straight to work, I knew I deserved a great sleep. The chilly air made the sleep even better and sweeter. As I woke up, I went outside our house and found out that the rain was very heavy. Subsequently, there was a power outage. The rain and the wind became stronger. The power supply was not restored; hence, I told my supervisor that I would be absent due to force majeure.

🇵🇭 VIGAN • From the window, I saw how the guyabano tree and the adjacent sapote tree tried hard to dance in the rain with the high-intensity wind.

The calm deep sleep that I just gained was quickly replaced by a nightmare while I was awake. It was a nightmare in my thoughts that there was a super typhoon coming. My mom has a chronic ailment, and I wasn't 100% ready to protect her in times like this. Some medicines in her medicine box have been depleted. I was worrying I couldn't purchase new medicines thinking that drug stores may have been closed.

With heaps of backlogs, it was also a nightmare not to be able to work online. This nightmare came swiftly. I would have traded a shallow sleep with a nightmare. At least, such a nightmare that would have happened in my sleep isn't true once I woke up. Sadly, the calming deep sleep was also reminiscent of the calm before the storm.

🇵🇭 VIGAN • My dad's sapote tree has grown tall and strong—enough to withstand an extreme weather condition. I was thinking if my family also has the same resilience to withstand an upcoming threat.

🇵🇭 VIGAN • The strong wind has caused some branches to fall. Some of the branches that fell were as long as 5-10 meters.

► Why was I Afraid of Old Trees?

In the compound where we live, there are three mango trees that have grown so fat and tall. However, I was worrying about the almost century-old mango tree. That old tree has several thick, fat, super-heavy branches. Some of these branches have fallen, but there were still other bigger branches that remained.

With the strong wind, I had this fear that another branch might fall again. Below that old mango tree is the house of my uncle. It's a household of five.

🇵🇭 VIGAN • We have a lot of trees at home. Trees are friends; but during the onslaught of the super typhoon, these trees became a threat.

At night, the super typhoon continued to smash the ground. I almost lost my breath when I heard a sound that I didn't want to hear—the sound of a falling branch.

I felt helpless. Did the huge branch fall to my uncle's house? It was a scary night. The next day, I learned that the huge tree branch fell to our neighbor's premises. The branch almost hit their house. Thank God. No one was injured. Below are photos of the huge tree branch that fell to our neighbor's premises, almost hitting their house.

TYPHOON EGAY

The photos above were taken by my neighbor. He posted photos of a huge tree branch that was as massive as the house in terms of net mass or weight. We didn't have the technology to prevent that massive branch from falling.

Later on, I learned that my uncle's family evacuated their house and sought a temporary shelter in my grandmother's house.

► What were the struggles we had to endure? Our internet cable almost kiIIed a policeman.

• MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLE:

I'd say that my family has the mental fortitude to thrive and survive. However, the super typhoon Egay was a different story. Mental fortitude is beneficial in situations that would test you in a psychological warfare, but ST Egay was more than a psychological warfare. It was a quest for life and security with the powerful nature as your opponent with a home court advantage—the land, the air, and the sea.

The fear of the unknown and the uncertainty of what lies ahead were major triggers.

🇵🇭 VIGAN • We didn't have the technology to prevent a flash flood. We were helplessly watching the rainwater until it flooded our front yard.

• POWER AND INTERNET OUTAGE:

The power outage has limited us to do our daily basic tasks. Cooking food, moving inside the house, and ensuring the preservation of our frozen food sources were all struggles.

Many power lines were cut off due to falling tree branches and collapsing posts. We had no power source for several days. This struggle prompted me to purchase our own generator set. However, as I looked for available stocks in several hardware stores in Metro Vigan, there were long queues of other residents yearning to have their own unit.

🇵🇭 VIGAN • Without a power supply, candlelight was a luxury.

🇵🇭 VIGAN • The leaves were green; the sky was grey, but inside our house was a blinding darkness.

All stocks have been sold or reserved, so I decided to go home with empty hands. However, as I drove on Quezon Avenue on my way home, I saw a generator set being set-up on the elevated sidewalk in front of the store. I stopped to ask if this hardware store had available stocks. Voila! This was like an oasis in a desert. They had several stocks. The name of the store was Fortune Lumber and Hardware in between Mercury Drug and EastWest Bank at Quezon Avenue.

I told them I would purchase a unit. They instructed me to wait because they were also waiting for their gasoline supply for the unit testing. Meantime, I told them I'd be back because I also needed to visit the Globe office in Vigan. I needed to get an alternative source of internet for my work after securing my own power source.

I spent about 2 hours inside the Globe office in Vigan considering I was the only customer that time who had an actual transaction. Some people who came in transacted with the machine, not with the CSR. They struggled in registering my LTE SIM. They also noticed some issues like the occurrence of intermittent 4G signal. To cut the long story short, I was happy that Globe was able to help me get an alternative source of internet after my Converge fiber connection was cut off.

Speaking of Converge, the swaying bamboo tree smashed the internet cable leading to our house. With a huge force, the steel tube that we put-up to receive the internet cable was uprooted and eventually collapsed.

The unexpected collapse of the steel tube caused the cables to block the road. This was a threat. According to my uncle, an unsuspecting policeman almost had an accident when he was hooked by the low-dangling cables while his motorcycle was running on the road. Because of this threat, my uncle cut-off the cable; hence, losing my direct internet supply.

🇵🇭 VIGAN • We transferred the tubular steel post in front of my uncle's house who witnessed the accident that was caused by the low-lying dangling cables. This tubular steel post previously collapsed, causing the cable wires to dangle and block the road.

🇵🇭 VIGAN • This generator set provided temporary power supply. It was very noisy, though. It could contain 10 liters of gasoline. The generator ran for about 10 hours. We were surprised how efficient it was. The remaining gasoline was still at about 70% after 10 hours of use.

🇵🇭 VIGAN • This was the internet cable that dangled low. My uncle cut it off to prevent road accidents.

► Ending Thoughts

It's 07:55 PM of 2023-July-30 as I write this post. I'm actively blogging again 5 days after the onslaught. My mamang (mom) and my papang (dad) are eating in the kitchen. My other brother is in his room resting. My youngest brother is with his workmates in front of our house having their "tagay" session.

It's another day to be thankful for. After that typhoon, the restoration of the power supply seemed like a luxury; and the fact that I can blog again felt like it's now a rare privilege. ◄ END OF STORY ►

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