My first hurricane

[w1z4rd]

So I am living through my first hurricane... and its epic! Its like super rain at high speed.

Ive got Jim Morrisons, Riders of the Storm playing in honor of this occasion. The internet keeps going down though :(

[Flatty]

The force is strong in this onehttp://fc06.deviantart.com/images2/i/2003/50/f/2/Jedi_Emoticon

Hold onto your hat, dude.

[Nitty]

Good luck w1z. Hope it's not too scary. Take pics for us please :)

[Bass]

Yow ! Take care of yourself and the missus Wizard !! :eek:

[Hoss]

Everyone saying take care pffft THATS FREAKING AWESOME DUDE!!!! Pictures at least my china!

[Voicy]

Dear Wizard,


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmEGm-mraE

Your friend
Voicy :kiss:

[SintaxErr]

Good call on that Riders on the storm. :thumbsup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKbPUzhWeeI

[w1z4rd]

Haha, its not all that bad... its basically like the heaviest rain you could ever imagine. Imagine the strongest rainfall you have ever seen in your life.. then times that by 10. Now add gale force winds to it.

The streets are flooding a little in my area (basically where you are now is where you stay until its over)...but in other areas the freeways and roads are like neck deep in water. A couple of cars are underwater.

Technically its not a hurricane, its a typhoon. For those of you that dont know the difference, a hurricane is this weather in the Atlantic, a typhoon is this weather in the Pacific (yes I visited Wiki). Apparently typhoons are more harsher because of warmer Western Pacific waters.

On my infamous "to do" list I really wanted to see and experience a hurricane. Never thought I would get my wish. We are pretty far from its epicenter with the worst of the typhoon about an hour to the north of us. Nothings flying through the air :( (except water)

I took some footage with my phone camera earlier on and I will try upload it onto facebook later... but the camera is such poor quality I dont think you will understand the real impact.

My apartment is 3rd floor, so I am not too worried about flooding. The internet must just keep working :D

If anything really cool happens Ill let you know... but right now its just high speed winds and lots and lots and lots of water.

[Kryonin]

Nice one Wizard! I would love to experience a Hurri/Typhoon. Hope it all goes well. Next up a trip to tornado alley??

[w1z4rd]

That would be pretty cool... Ive never seen a real tornado... its on my to do list. Not near the top but its there... not far after "poke a komodo dragon with a stick" (yes thats really on my list)...but ahead of counting penguins in the antarctic.

Minutes after making my post... the freeken internet went down. Im glad its back up. Seems the worst of the storm has stopped...

[Voicy]

In the words of Ron White...

"There's no point in trying to act manly by standing outside during a hurricane.
It's not _THAT_ the wind is blowing that you should worry about... it's _WHAT_ the wind is blowing.

No amount of pushups is going to save you against a Volkswagen hurling towards you." :blackeye:

[Nitty]

I see news24 already has pictures of Tropical Storm Ketsana. I'm assuming the two are related?

[w1z4rd]

Yeah
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8277018.stm

72 People dead. I think they downgraded the typhoon to a tropical storm.


A massive rescue operation is under way in the Philippines, where at least 72 people are feared to have died following torrential rains.

Tropical Storm Ketsana triggered the worst flooding in decades in the capital Manila and nearby provinces.

Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said troops, police and civilian volunteers had rescued more than 4,000 people - many clinging to each other on roofs.

More than 250,000 have been driven from their homes, officials say.

[Nitty]

:cry:

Glad you're okay though.

[Flatty]

Those places have a particularly bad history with regard to Typhoons. The low lying land compounds the problem. I read a book about a Typhoon that hit Hong Kong, fictional, but terrifying.

I don't think I can imagine anything worse than high speed winds ripping off roof sheets, tiles, breaking windows, howling blasts of heavy rainfall and the very real possibility that you might have to spend the night on a roof because of flooding. I don't relish the idea of getting wet, cold, and watching dead things float past me.

At least you're OK - just make sure you have a nice high apartment ALWAYS.

[w1z4rd]

The grocery stores are pretty empty at the moment. Two things I just learnt. They recon the rise in water and the amount that fell was worse than Katrina and theres talk of another one on the way. The city sirens keep blowing every now and again warning people.

[Titan]

Dude, keep yr head down mkay, we need u and yr lady to be safe!!
Post that list of yours too, and mark the ones you have done already, will be cool to see :)

[WondaWoman]

Your typhoon was on the news Wiz. They said something about declaring an emergency status. Looks super scary - keep safe!!

[w1z4rd]

Anyone wanting to watch the weather in this part of the world here is a gif that updates, so it should be different each day:

http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/Gif/nwp.latest.gif

There are currently four typhoons in the general area:


Type Name Date Time Lat Lon Wind Tracking Charts
---- ------- ---------- -------- ----- ------ ------- ---------------
STO 18W 2009-09-30 00:00 UT 13.1N 146.0E 035 kts 18W NW Pacific
STO KETSANA 2009-09-29 12:00 UT 15.4N 107.8E 055 kts KETSANA NW Pacific N Indian
STO MELOR 2009-09-30 00:00 UT 11.7N 155.8E 040 kts MELOR NW Pacific
TYP PARMA 2009-09-30 00:00 UT 09.0N 136.8E 065 kts PARMA NW Pacific



Titan... will upload that list sometime :D

[Thumponius]

Looks like you're never going to be short of some blow...

[WingNut]

Was it this (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/09/typhoon_ketsana_ondoy.html) typhoon?

[SunnyCash]

Ok so as soon as you log in pls let us know u still alive since there was just a Tsunami out that way and it looks pretty bad.

[Flatty]

Ok so as soon as you log in pls let us know u still alive since there was just a Tsunami out that way and it looks pretty bad.

Well, he better get used to it because that is typical for that area. Those people are so used to it they do the sensible thing & cower like chickens until it is over.

On the upside all that humidity makes & the fact that they live on the edge of death on a frequent basis make the local honeys rather receptive to male attention - something about danger & heat :)

[w1z4rd]

Im logged in, no worries about the tsunami.. there is another typhoon just north of us. No need to cower and hide flatty... just be sensible and stay on high ground (though not next to any of the volcanoes).

Am alright sunny and fallen. Getting what I wanted :D

On the upside I went shopping today... and this is what I ended up buying:

-Naruto mousepad
-Dragonball Z mousepad (you get them in pairs)
-Naruto large poster
-Gokan figurine
-Antique original Star Trek comic book from an antiques dealer in plastic covering (how it got here I have no idea)
-1x 100 Peso note printed during Japanese occupation of this area during WW2... I tried to get a Jap war helmet but it was too expensive
- The missus and I got matching YouTube shirts (its a geek thing)

Not your normal shopping list. The missus bought clothes.

Im currently looking at buying a 3G Iphone for R2700... is that a reasonable price?

[Mugato]

Glad you havent been blown away duder! :D

Thats a bargain price for that iPhone! Jeesh! Ill take 2!!

[Noodle]

Im currently looking at buying a 3G Iphone for R2700... is that a reasonable price?

VERY! But try get the 3G s if you can.

[w1z4rd]

If you guys want I can source tech stuff here like iphones and iTouch`s(voicy), post the pricing here then mail to you chaps or something?

I went to this place today.. that had like literally ... a million cellphones spread across a rugby sized flea market of hundreds of sellers.

I can get exact pricing on new and second hand units and stuff like that.

[Nitty]

Well, he better get used to it because that is typical for that area. Those people are so used to it they do the sensible thing & cower like chickens until it is over.

On the upside all that humidity makes & the fact that they live on the edge of death on a frequent basis make the local honeys rather receptive to male attention - something about danger & heat :)

Pity half of the local honeys are men :rolleyes:

[Tresbien]

Glad you're ok Wiz

[w1z4rd]

Pity half of the local honeys are men :rolleyes:

Thats thailand with the boy girls.

[Nitty]

Sorry w1z, you are correct.

[Vortex]

*shudder*

[Nitty]

You better have your brakes checked out Vorty :p

[Jono]

aaaaaaand Wiz4rd was his naaame oh! =D

dont get blown back home just yet!

ps. i want some Hurricane in a bottle. Pweez! Mebe wif some sweeties added...

[GeroW4lll]

Were you hanging on to the palm trees screaming "we love it hereeeeeeeee!" Hu were you?

[WondaWoman]

Speaking about boy girls. My friend just got back from teaching a 6month stint in Thailand. She said there are schools that are only for boy-girls, from the age of 10 upwards. She said she thinks there might be more boy-girls than girls there. Her stories were pretty hectic..about their toilet systems etc. I think we have it good here after hearing her tales.

[Jono]

The grass is always greener till you step in the poop. :-)

[w1z4rd]

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/real-time/westpac/images/xxirgms5bbm.jpg

We have weather warnings. Looks like we are going to flood again.

I am roughly at 122E 16N by lookin at that picture... thats a very rough guess.

[Flatty]

Super typhoon bears down on flood-ravaged Philippines (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091002/ts_nm/us_asia_typhpoon)

Dude, rather you than me...

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20091002/capt.0cf1c91c20da485d84da22c8464295ca.philippines_flooding_xbm105.jpg?x=400&y=266&q=85&sig=VdzPgugk.lxooSjfrSbWYw--

Residents go on with their daily business amidst floodwaters in Taytay township, Rizal province, east of Manila, Philippines Friday Oct. 2, 2009. Tropical storm Ketsana brought the worst flooding in metropolitan Manila and neighboring provinces in more than 40 years that left more than 250 people dead and dozens more missing. The Philippines is bracing for the super typhoon Parma which is expected to hit the northern part of the country Saturday

More here (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Pacific-Ocean-Tropical-Storm/photo//091002/photos_wl_pc_afp/7f256fad96d52e823d3b317d7381d69c//s:/nm/20091002/ts_nm/us_asia_typhpoon#photoViewer=/091002/481/f3435f64a9d34f30a6a06d719ff2a89e)

So, straight after a bleeding 'urricane, you get attacked by a typhoon:

"In some parts of the metropolitan Manila area a few hundred kilometres to the south, local authorities were ordering residents to be evacuated for fear that Parma would worsen flooding left behind by Saturday’s tropical storm Kestana.
“I ordered this morning the evacuation of people in flood-stricken areas...
thousands have already transferred to public schools and my own rice milling compound,” said Calixto R. Cataquiz, mayor of the town of San Pedro.
Ketsana brought the worst flooding in more than 40 years to the capital and surrounding areas, leaving 293 dead. Five days later, floodwaters still have not receded in many areas. -- AFP "

Guess, you sure know how to pick a good time to move somewhere, hey, Wizard? :p