Typhoon Day

As many, if not most, of you know, Taiwan was battered this past weekend by a very large and intimidating typhoon.  

First of all, let me assure everyone, we are fine. 

Unfortunately, many others, especially those on the east side and in the mountains, are not.

Typhoon Soudelor was a monster. 

While out in the Pacific, it grew into the strongest storm so far this year.

Satellite Friday afternoon

Along the coast the storm surge was incredible.

As the sun set Friday evening, everyone was apprehensive.

As I went to bed Friday night, the typhoon was still off to the east. Waking up at 4 am, the howling wind and rattling windows, announced its arrival. It was hard, but I eventually went back to sleep. All was eerily quiet when I woke up later that morning. Were we in the eye already?

Many in our building lost their internet service. Several houses on our campus were without electricity. One coworker lost the tin sheeting on her roof.

By Saturday evening, almost all these constructional panels were gone. As we sat at our dining room table, we could hear as each one lost its battle with the wind.

All morning and into early afternoon, the question was where did the typhoon go? It shouldn't take 7 hours for the eye to pass over. At one point, the sun was even shining. I started thinking the mountains had taken all the wind out of the typhoon. But I was wrong. Around 4pm the wind started up again. All evening, the wind howled, but from the opposite direction.

This morning, driving to church required dodging and going around fallen trees.

After church, I walked around the campus.

Among the limbs and leaves, I found some of the missing tin roofing.

While Taichung dealt mostly with wind. Some parts of the island received 51 inches of rain in 24 hours! As of now the death count is low, just three. A mom and her twin daughters were swept out in the storm surge.

While it was big and ugly, we survived Typhoon Soudelor! Thank you for the prayers!