It has been a year since we had an unwanted visitor --Glenda! It's a tropical cyclone with a 37-km wide eye (as big as Manila City?) and powerful winds that hit gusts of around 213 kph.
I remember I was on duty the day it landed on the eastern part of the archipelago. Everyone's panicky. I understand. Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) devastated Visayas just 8 months earlier. I wasn't that worried, I'm used to so many of these tropical depressions, habagat, storms, typhoons -- 20+ each year! Besides, Batangas is not usually on the typhoon path. But Glenda was different. Night came and it started to whistle. Glenda made its presence felt. Later on I heard violent winds playing with the roofs. Our house was vibrating and I was shaking. Glenda kept me awake that night.
The next morning, we were shocked with the scene. We've never seen roofless houses and toppled trees in the neighborhood before.
Well, at least the typhoon stopped.. and so we thought. After an hour of silence, the winds were freaking out again. Water came rushing inside the whole house, and one of our windows was slammed down... As if Glenda had just been recharged for a much wretched comeback!
Our whole morning was crazy as we attempted to prevent the flood from coming in. The rest of the day was crazier as we find ourselves roaming the house wading through the water, even dining with our feet soaked in flood.
Well the rest of the week was the craziest. We had no electricity for the next 4 days. Candles and batteries were like precious jewels you can't easily find. Water was also scarce. Even fastfoods don't have them. Not to mention of course the damage done to the whole Southern Luzon and Bicol Region.
Glenda's damage was said to be the 7th costliest Pacific typhoon, 3rd in the Philippines.
Yeah, Glenda is unforgettable.
Thank God we survived.
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